thanks for joining us this morning. good morning. will they reach a deal? the nfl heads back to the bargaining table with representatives for its locked out referees amid growing outrage over their replacement. "hunger games" new guidelines limiting the calories in school lunches that have some students complaining they're not getting enough to eat. ♪ tonight we are young . >> this morning how the government is responding, and remembering andy williams. sad news this morning that the legendary singer and emmy-winning tv host has died following a battle with bladder cancer. the 84-year-old made a worldwide

star with his mellow voice. ♪ >> we'll look back at his remarkable career today, wednesday, september 26th, 2012. captions paid for by nbc-universal television from nbc news, this is "today" with matt lauer and savannah guthrie live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. and good morning. welcome to "today" on a wednesday morning. i'm matt lauer. >> good morning. i'm savannah guthrie. sports is still the news. the use of replacement officials, a story that is still dominating the internet and the front pages of newspapers across the country. >> even president obama is voicing his opinion on the call that decided monday's game saying it was "terrible." what will it take to get the real referees back on the field?

one of the issues that led to the lockout in the first place and who will blink first. we're going to talk about this in just a couple of minutes with this guy sitting right here, bob castas of nbc sports. >> people are now making videos to express their frustration. ♪ i just met you it was crazy what's his number i'll call it maybe it's hard to call right never replay what's his number i'll call it maybe ♪ >> okay on the plus side it's spawning some creativity. all right. we'll have a little bit more on that part of the story too. >> it just points out the fact they have to do something quickly. a woman who makes it halloween every single day. she wears a different costume at work each day, and she's done it for three years and counting. this morning, well, she's known as dressy jesse. she's gotten dolled up for us in an nbc page's uniform, much to the chagrin of our real nbc page. more on that coming up as well.

then a bit later on we're going to step into our ask away question machine and find out what you want to know about us today. let's begin, though, with the referee crisis in the nfl that has fans and players alike blowing the whistle on the league. nbc's ann thompson is at league headquarters here in new york city. hi, ann. >> reporter: good morning, matt. you know, this is about much more than just the seattle-green bay debacle. there are some who believe that the very integrity of the nfl is at stake here players. players and coaches are frst frustrated. loyal fans are angry, and that's because the referee who's the least popular people on the field are replaced by men whose skills are now under question. . you can feel the frustration on the street. >> that's why we're here. you messed with our packers. >> reporter: on late night comedy. >> there's a new slogan. close enough. that's fine. >> reporter: in the twit-osphere. even at the white house. everybody seems to have the same

wish as the president. hope the refs' lockout is settled soon. >> i don't think anybody wants a big chunk of my football season being officiated by guys who honestly had no business on the field. >> reporter: pulled from the ranks of smaller colleges and high schools, the replacement refs have had their share of run-ins with players and coaches. >> the game's final play. >> reporter: their toughest moment came monday night, defining the outcome of the seattle-green bay game. was it an interception or a touchdown? >> touchdown! >> reporter: on tuesday the nfl acknowledged the replacement refs missed an offensive pass interference call that would have ended the game. >> call on the field stands. touchdown. >> reporter: but it stood by the ruling that the catch was a touchdown, saying the nfl officiating department reviewed the video today and supports the decision not to overturn the on-field ruling following the instant replay review." >> i'm not sure that whatever happens in a game is going to make the officials crumble or

the nfl cave in to give everything that the officials want. >> reporter: what the officials want is a greater contribution to their pension plan. the league wants better training and a stronger hand in improving referee performance. last year the nfl pulled in $9.3 billion in revenue, tickets, merchandise, and lucrative tv deals. all part of the nfl brand, considered the gold standard in professional sports. an image that professor roger goodell manages with a tipt grip. coaches and players face stiff penaltieses for everything from uniform hits to uniform violations. there is a growing sense that the league is losing control on the replacement issue. >> players are not respecting these guys at all. it's going to be like a snowball that should it continue to get momentum. >> reporter: a strong fan base drives the league's success, but if the outcome of games is called into question, the nfl

could be sacked for a serious loss. >> reporter: now, this morning there are reports that the two sides are talking, but there is still no settlement. in fact, the "new york times" reports this morning that the owners are dug in and want no more compromise with the referees union. all of this means that when week four kicks off on thursday night, fans, coaches, and players will have to brace themselves for more calls by the replacement refs. matt. >> ann thompson here in new york on the story. ann, thanks very much. bob kosas is host of "football night in america." good morning. good to have you here. the nfl is an organization that fiercely defends its reputation and the integrity of the game. >> yep. >> at this moment right here in this situation how much damage has been done to the integrity and the reputation? >> i would say plenty. it remains tremendously popular, and that's one of the reasons that empowers the league to continue on its present course. the ratings don't fall. the interest, if anything, even in a fiasco like this, the interest in it indicates the

popularity of thenfl. it hurts a lot. >> this has become a pop culture finish mom non, but at its core is a labor dispute. the outcry after that game-ending play on monday night was it seemed roger goodell was supposed to go out and do anything, bend over backwards to get the refs back on the field. do you think that's a smart move on the part of the league and the owners? >> at this point they can't have this go on much longer. there's a contradiction here. here's a league that examines replays from eight different angles on relatively inconsequential plays because it says it wants to get everything right down to the last detail. here's a league that has pledged its concern about players safety. the replacement officials put both of those objectives at serious risk. >> why do you think this has gone and broken the restraints of a normal sports story, bob, and become the conversation at breakfast tables and dinner tables? >> because the nfl is a pop culture juggernaut. i think gambling has something to do with it. >> $300 million changed hands in las vegas as a result of that one call. >> it isn't just seahawks and packers fans involved in a game

like this or any game. it's gamblers, fantasy league players. you know, the whole thing. neen a society that overall may be unfair, people expect sports to be fair down to the millimeter. >> as we watch that play right there, which is getting all the attention here, isn't it fair to say that even the seasoned referees would have been booed by whichever crowd the call went against? it was a close enough call. >> it wasn't that close really. it wasn't that close. they should have gotten it right just with the naked eye, and then what really surprised me is that the replay official did not overturn it because there was conclusive evidence to overturn. this was a -- >> how about the field goal in new england? is that a one in 100 kick? in other words, might a seasoned referee have been booed for a call in that one? >> well, that one went also in favor of the home team in baltimore. that call happened to be correct. here it is on sunday night football. however, if the credibility of the replacement officials is

what it is and it's only getting worse by the week, if you have one of these even if the call happens to be correct, go against a home team, like mike lupika makes a great point in this morning's "new york daily news" with incivility being what it is and with the fan behavior of drinking and barnyard chants on a perceived missed call, there could be a very dangerous situation if one of these calls goes against a home team. >> real quickly, belichick, the penalty against him should be or will be what? >> it will be a substantial fine. i don't think they'll suspend him. >> bob costas, always good to have you. >> you know what annoys me even more than the replacement officials. getting up this early -- >> stop. the whining never stops. the whining. all right. savannah. >> bob, once a year or something. it's every day for us. let's move to politics now. president obama and mitt romney are fine-tuning their message to voters with the first presidential debate just one week away. chuck todd is nbc's political director, chief white house correspondent. chuck, good morning to you.

>> reporter: well, good morning, savannah. no swing state has been harder for mitt romney to gain traction in than ohio. it's why he has this bus trip this week. he is trying to get it back into play. the president is heading there today to try to put the state away. it's why they're both there this morning. >> it is time to get the real refs, and it reminds me of president obama and the economy. if you can't get it right, it's time to get out. >> reporter: the republican ticket is hoping their bus tour will make up lost ground in ohio as polls hoe mitt romney trailing president obama in this pivotal swing state. in dayton tuesday romney hammered mr. obama on tacks. >> i admit this one thing he did not do in his first four years, he has said he is going to do in the next four years which is to raise taxes, and is there anybody that thinks that raising taxes will help grow the economy? >> reporter: an attack over tacks is actually a change for romney, who is often accused the

president of raising taxes in his first term. romney is looking to jump-start his campaign with a good performance in the first debate one week from today. the man who plays mr. obama in romney's mock debate sessions, though, tried to lower expectations playing up the president's experience. >> he has been through a lot of those one-on-one debates with a republican. mitt has not, and you think about it, he hasn't had a real debate in ten years because these republican debates tend to be more like candidate forums. >> reporter: tuesday the chief candidates both made whirlwind visits to new york city. president obama aaddressed the u.n. general assembly addressing iran's efforts to build nuclear weapons. >> a nuclear-armed iran is not a challenge that can be contained. >> reporter: those strong words didn't satisfy romney. >> we can look at the record the last four years. is iran closer to a nuclear weapon or not? we know the answer. it's closer to a nuclear weapon. >> reporter: and both candidates tried to one up each other in praising bill clinton at the former president's global conference on global giving. romney joked about the clinton

bounce in obama's polls after the democratic convention. >> if there's one thing we've learned in this election season, by the way, it's that a few words from bill clinton can do a man a lot of good. all i have to do is wait for that bounce to happen in a couple of minutes days. >> your very kind introduction, i have to admit i really did like the speech a few weeks ago a little bit better. >> reporter: a couple of new polls, by the way, out this morning in the "new york times". just to show you how much of an uphill battle it is for mitt romney. he trails by ten points in the "times" poll, and he trails in florida by nine, savannah. >> chuck todd at the white house for us this morning. thank you. 12 minutes after the hour. once again here's matt. >> savannah, thanks. now the investigation into the attack on the u.s. consulate in libya that killed four americans, including ambassador chris stevens. nbc's ann curry sat down with libya's new president last night for an exclusive interview. >> would you call the attack on

the u.s. consulate in benghazi an act of terrorism? >> i have no doubt about that, and it's a preplanned act of terrorism directed at the american citizens. >> what is your evidence that it was a preplanned act of terrorism? >> number one is choosing the date. 11th of september has all the significance. if we take the facts about the way it was executed, you can see there's enough proof that it is a preplanned act of terrorism. >> describe the attack based on your investigation. >> it's too early for me to give the details about this, but it was launched with a high degree of accuracy which means that the perpetrators must have some kind of exercise on how to launch these rockets. >> you're confirming that rpg's

were used in the initial attack. >> the attack. and mortars. >> mortars were used in the subsequent attack. >> subsequent, yes. >> and do you know how many mortars were used? >> about five, i think. >> and you're saying that these were fired with such accuracy -- >> yes. >> -- that this could not have been done with someone without experience? >> experience and knew what he was doing. >> and this is what is helping convince you that this was a preplanned attack, not a reaction to a controversial movie? >> yes. no doubt about this. >> do you think the movie had anything to do with this attack on the consulate? >> not on this attack. not on this attack. it has nothing to do with this attack. >> so do you know then who is behind this attack and what the motive was? >> i think it's al qaeda elements hiding in libya. >> is there any direct evidence

that it is al qaeda behind this attack on the u.s. consulate? >> not so far. not so far not. as the investigation progresses, that is the likelihood that we'll will reach that. the attack on the consulate was preplanned. whether with the intention of killing ambassador stevens or not, that's too early to say. >> libyan president went on to tell ann that at least 40 people have been interrogated. still, no mastermind has been arrested. he is confident that it will happen. >> let's get a check of the day's other top stories. natalie morales is over at the news desk. >> good morning, everyone. breaking news this morning. legendary singer andy williams died tuesday night after a year-long battle with bladder cancer. williams died at his home in branson, missouri, where he owned the moon river theater.

moon river, of course, was williams' theme song. ♪ we're after the same rainbow's end, waiting 'round the bend my huckleberry friend moon river and me ♪ >> that silky smooth voice earned williams three gold and two platinum albums. he also hosted "the andy williams show" on television from 1962 to 1971. that show helped launch the careers of the osmond family and other acts. president ronald reagan once called him a national treasure. andy williams was 84. iranian president mum newed ahmadinejad addresses the national assembly. on tuesday president obama told

the assembly that tehran is running out of time to solve its disputed nuclear program and vowed the u.s. will do what it must to prevent obtain from obtaining a nuclear weapon. in an interview with associated press ahmadinejad called for a new world order. here in new york city public outrage as the openly anti-israel ahmadinejad addresses the u.n. on yam kippur. the nfl replacement have many fans outraged. some are already able to laugh, or maybe cry, about the whole mess. check out this parody from seth heck at kfan radio in minneapolis. ♪ threw my wish in a well got a call from roger goodell i said i'm on my way i trade my soul for a wish personally thank the co mmi sh am i prepared for this who cares, i'm on my way coaches, were holding ripped jersey, skin was showing which way is the ball going save me ♪

♪ hey, i just met you that play was crazy what's his number i'll call it maybe ♪ >> well, of course, another "call me maybe" spoof, and no surprise here. it's already going viral. what is the statute of limitations on how many parodies you can do to that song? >> 30 seconds ago. >> we've already gone way over that. >> i know. natalie, thank you. mr. roker is on the road this morning. is he in cleveland at the historic west side market that's celebrating a big anniversary. al, good morning. >> that's right. it's the centennial of the west side market. i was here last night to help the northeast ohio adoption services agency raise some funds, but the west side market, great place to get all sorts of artisinal foods. it's a great place to be if are you here in cleveland. our satellite imagery is shaky today. that's because we lost the national weather service's goes 13 satellite during the hurricane season. the good news is there is a backup.

there's the goes 14 and 15. they've shifted a couple of satellites to still provide coverage. no word yet when goes 13 goes back online. let's show you what we have going on right now, though. we are watching a line of showers and thunderstorms. the radars are working fine. all along this front heavy thunderstorms from oklahoma all the way into western pennsylvania, and as you look at the futurecast, you can see all along this system heavy rain starts to develop and moves into the northeast later today on into tonight. rainfall amounts, some of the rain could be heavy. we're talking anywhere from two to four inches of rain from joplin, missouri, all the way into western pennsylvania. good wednesday morning to you. got a really good looking day shaping up. it's going to be one of the cooler days of the week. temperatures spike as of tomorrow. 57, not too bad in san francisco. low clouds will clear by noon.

72 in freemont. 76 in san jose. getting hot tomorrow, even hotter as we head into the weekend. 98 degrees on sunday. and then maybe some showers wednesday into thursday. >> reporter: yeah, that's your latest weather. savannah? >> that's your latest weather. savannah. >> al, keep eating it because wait until you see this next story. we are talking about that looming shortage of pork that has bacon fans sizzling. with prices expected to skyrocket next year, the question is do you really need to stock up now? nbc's john yang is in chicago with this story. john, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, savannah. this chicago restaurant, they serve up 500 pounds of ham, pork sauce auj, and, yes, bacon. 500 pounds a week. it's big news here that pork suppliers are headed down and prices are headed up. the twitser verse they're calling it. a pork-alypse and bacon-geddon. at louie mitchell's

restaurant and bakery, a chicago landmark, breakfast means bacon and eggs. >> you're going to see a whole lot of angry people in pork really does get taken off the menu for breakfast. >> reporter: from pork producers around the world, a warning. next year it's likely to be harder and more expensive to bring home the bacon and fry it up in a pan. >> we set a record in september 2011 for retail prices, and i think we're going to shatter that next year. >> reporter: that's because this summer's drought is driven up the price of corn and soybeans used to feed hogs, leading farmers to cut costs by cutting the number of pigs they raise. in 2007 u.s. farmers produced about 51 pounds of pork for every american. next year's forecast, just shy of 45 pounds, a 12% drop. >> we're probably going to have to pass on, you know, at least a 10% increase in all our prices across the board next year. >> reporter: for some bacon lovers, it will be worth it. >> i think it's $3.99 a pound now.

if it's goes up to $5.99, i'll eat less of it, but i will still eat it, definitely. >> i will pay double that for continuing to have bacon. rimpl these days bacon is not just for breakfast anymore. >> bacon, bacon, bacon. >> reporter: it's in ice cream, on donuts, in vodka. even in gourmet chocolates. >> i better stock up now. >> reporter: with big price hikes coming, pork producers say it's not a bad idea. >> if you have some space in a freezer to stock up on pork loins. ribs are a great bargain right now. bacon may be a real bargain relative to where it's going to be. >> reporter: at lou mitchell's diners say it's time to strike while the frying pan is hot. >> enjoy the bacon when you can. enjoy the sausage, enjoy the pork chops. enjoy, you know, everything from the little piggy. >> reporter: now, on the menu here there is an alternative, turkey sausage and surgeriy bacon. owner nick says both good products, but not quite the same. savan wra. >> i was going to say, john, sell that somewhere else. okay? john yang in chicago.

thanks so much. coming up, the surprising end to the sensational case of a soccer mom accused of being a high-end madam. first, this is "today" on nbc.

just ahead, the new school lunch guidelines that have students singing the blues. >> and they are playing our song. more of your "ask away today" questions after your local news. sleek new styling... sophisticated dual cockpit design, and sport sculpted seats. available chevrolet mylink infotainment system. the all-new 2013 chevrolet malibu. ♪ refined comfort to get you in a malibu state of mind no matter what state you live in. ♪ like a squirrel stashes nuts, you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec® liquid gels. nothing starts working faster than zyrtec®

at relieving your allergy symptoms for 24 hours. zyrtec®. love the air. the time is 7:26. good morning, erb, i'm john kelly. officers arrived at las palapas restaurant about 11:30 last night. when they got there, that cook, he was already on the ground. no word yet if he was shot or if he was stabbed. the cook was taken to a hospital. we're still waiting for an update on his condition. police still try to figure out how many suspects are involved and if this was gang related. so far, no arrests have been made. we are getting closer to october but so far we're not getting closer to fall weather. >> flirting with triple digits by the weekend.

temperatures are chrrisp to sta. 59 in sunnyvale. future cast tells the story of the day. we saw clearing, even over san francisco, by 10:00. it's going to take a little bit longer. fog cover hugging that coastline till about noon today. then they're warming up to about 67 in san francisco, 88 degrees, blazing sunshine, on the way, to livermo livermore. look at the difference. 94 tomorrow. up to 98 degrees over the weekend. the fact that there's a storm system tracking closer to the coast. our first showers of the season as of next wednesday. so wacky weather. what's happening on the road? >> we have traffic. that's all we have right now. north 280. s an as you're approaching. the northbound traffic really bogs down. it's wide spread. it's 101 from that same interchange. 85 and 87 the northbound routes

slow from the split. up through those freeways to downtown. we'll get a look at another live shot. you see that 88 o through the gray sky. we see traffic bogging down north toward high street. chp reports nothing coming but we have just seen this pick up over the last three so there may be a new issue just north of high street. >> we'll watch out for that. for the latest traffic and news update, check us out on facebook. we're back in one half hour.

73:00 now on this wednesday morning. it's the 26th of september, 2012, and no, it's not halloween, and that woman is not trying out costumes. are you lacking at just a few of the outfits worn by jessica mooney, also known as dressy jess jessie. she's done it every day, more or less, for the last three years, so the question is why does she do it? how did this start? does she ever plan to stop? well, we're going to ask miss dressy jessie. looking good in her page uniform this morning. just a few minutes from now. inside studio 1 ak-i'm savannah guthrie alongside matt lauer. >> also more answers to your "ask away today" questions, questions about us and the show. savannah was going to get into the wind machine but had some serious concerns about hair and

skirt issues. >> it's issues you don't have to worry about, let's be honest. >> willie geist will jump in there this morning. >> and a big concern tied to new school lunch guidelines. the rules that limit calories are leaving them feeling hungry. one school in kansas has created a light-hearted parody to highlight that problem. more on how the government is responding coming up. >> all right. then again, we also heard from president obama on tuesday on education, and this morning mitt romney shares his views on the critical issues facing our nation's schools. >> let us begin this half hour with a case we've been following for months now. the so-called soccer mom madam accused of running a high-end escort service right here in new york city. in an exclusive jailhouse interview back in june, she told us she was innocent, but now she has changed her tune. nbc's katie tur has the story. >> reporter: a kiss billed as a sensational case by prosecutors, one that would take down new

york's rich and powerful ended yesterday with a whimper. anna gristina pleaded guilty, but she isn't likely to spend another day behind bars. >> have no comment at this morning. >> reporter: walked out of court, a smile on her lips and her family by her side, a crush of media in her face. >> just a little more space for my family, please. >> reporter: anna gristina, the so-called soccer mom madam, won't be donning a prison jumpsuit any time suit. >> it's over for my family. >> reporter: after months of maintaining her innocence, in the end gristina succumbed to one word, pleading to one charge, guilty on a single count of promoting prostitution. legal expert john kelly. >> very good idea to take the plea deal to a victimless crime, a crime that people won't think less of her. >> reporter: gristina was arrested back in february, the image of an ordinary suburban mom, but what she was accused of was anything but ordinary. prosecutors claim the 44-year-old was running a high

class prostitution ring out of this modest upper east side apartment building. in a jailhouse interview gristina and her lawyers told matt she was just trying to start a dating service. >> i watched a show called "the millionaire matchmaker." a friend of mine suggested you'd be really good at it so i looked into opening up something called, you know, the same thing except instead of singles seeking it was married and seeking. >> married men looking for someone to have dinner with? >> very much like match.com. >> reporter: prosecutors say they investigated the push issan mom for five years. they claim she made millions selling sex to new york's rich and powerful, but in court tuesday they stated they couldn't find any evidence she dealt with high level complaints in politics, finance or law enforcement as they had once believed. ultimately gristina spent four months behind bars before finally coming up with a

$250,000 bond. today spoke wi "today" spoke with her exclusively her first night home. >> i'm scared to go to sleep because i'm afraid i'll wake up and not be here. >> reporter: she will be able to stay in her home for now. gristina will be sentenced to six months behind bars, but since she's spent much of that time behind bars already, she won't likely spend another night behind bars. still, she did plead guilty which means she could be deported. matt, back to you. >> thank you very much. let's get another check of the weather now from al who is out in cleveland. >> all right, matt, thank you so much. here in cleveland, overlooking the west side market, on the west side of cleveland, we've got a day today where temperatures aren't too extreme. in fact, really nothing all that horrible today. we expect to see 60s in new england, into the northeast 70s

and 80s through the south. look for 60s and 70s in the pacific northwest. still kind of toasty in texas and the southwest. as far as sky conditions are concerned, we are looking at a risk of strong storms stretching from oklahoma all the way into missouri. wet weather stretches into the northeast. fog along the pacific northwest coast, a slight risk of those strong storms may generate tornadoes later today. the sunshine continues through the southeast, and temperatures into the upper 90s through the southwest with plenty of sunshine. >> 7:35 now on a wednesday morning. looking good today. a repeat performance from yesterday. a little more cloud cover. that will keep temperatures down a touch. we spike those numbers back up for thursday into the weekend. 88 degrees in livermore. 72, not too bad, in freemont. 76 in san jose. right around 67 in san francisco. temperatures get even hotter as we head through friday. up to 98 degrees inland on sunday. and then clouds increase. maybe a few showers towards the middle of next week.

and that's your late fairweather. savannah? >> students across the country are adjusting to new federal guidelines to make school lunches more nutritious but the effort to make them healthy is leaving some hungry. mara schiavocampo is here to explain. >> good morning, savannah. at the beginning of the year they cut sodium, increased fruits and vegetables and in an effort to combat obesity they set a maximum number of calories for lunch. the last part is causing problem for students. they say they are not getting enough to eat. ♪ i know i gave up on food months ago ♪ >> reporter: students at wallace county high school in sharon springs, kansas, aren't singing for their supper. they are lamenting their lunch. ♪ tonight we are hungry >> reporter: in a video parody of the hit song "we are young"

called "we are hungry," teens sing about being so famished during the day they can barely stay awake in class or make it through sports practice. ♪ so by the time we go to practice and you feel like falling down ♪ ♪ i'll carry you home tonight >> reporter: they say it's all because of new federal guidelines that serve too little for growing teens. >> around 1:30, 2:00, get hungry right again. in the past that hadn't happened as much. >> reporter: the parody was actually written by an english teacher at the school. >> they won, when the kids went through their line they looked at their plates increddously, like is this what we're being served in the lack of the entre and the protein that really hit hard for them. >> reporter: healthy hunger-free kids act of 2010 went into effect this school year and raised federal nutritional guidelines for the first time in 15 years. one of the requirements, that high school lunches be capped at

850 calories a day. >> all right. >> reporter: the new guidelines are supported by first lady michelle obama's campaign against childhood obesity. >> when we're talking about getting kids running around and playing again, it is important to understand that this isn't just about fun and games. this isn't a joke. it's about their health. >> reporter: schools can provide more servings of fruit, vegetables and low-fat milk for students who need additional calories. >> 850 calories is a nice lunch. that's filling. where the kids are saying they are hungry is several hours later for after-school sports and they don't have the energy to be able to do that. >> reporter: the "we are hungry" video has gotten more than 100,000 views since it was posted last week, a strong message from students who find their new lunch program hard to swallow. now in response to the parody a representative for the usda told

nbc news the amount of food on a kid's plate is not much different than in years past. it's simply healthier. the new standards were developed using the latest science at the institute of medicine which determined the appropriate amount of calories. you know, savannah, the white house pints out that most students 850 calories will be enough, and we're talking about fighting incidents of obesity. >> for student athletes if it's a concern they can bring a snack from home. mara schiavocampo, thanks very much. >> coming up next, brian williams with mitt romney talking about what romney would do to fix our schools, right after this. [ phil ] i have a toyota camry hybrid. [ man ] tell me about that. [ phil ] katie and i talked about really committing to making a difference in the amount of gas that we use. she was using 8 to 10 tankfuls. i was using 5 tankfuls. now i use one tankful a month, and she may use about two. it drives like a sports car. it handles very well. people are a little surprised that a hybrid zipped by them the way that i do. [ male announcer ] see phil's story and more at the camry effect.

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let's get to work. back now at 7:42, and this morning on "education nation today" mitt romney's views on the major issues facing our schools. nbc's brian williams sat down with the republican presidential nominee on tuesday at our summit here in new york city. >> in your view should teachers be allowed to strike? >> i don't know that i would prevent teachers from being able to strike. i just think the most important aspect in being able to have a productive relationship between the teachers unions and the districts and the states that they are dealing with is that the person sitting across the table from them should not have received the largest campaign can't abuses from the teachers union itself. we have a very unusual system in this country, and it's not just related to teachers unions.

it relates more broadly, but people are able to give -- in the case of the democratic party, i don't mean to be terribly partisan but i kind of am, in case of the democratic party, the largest contributor to the democratic party are the teachers unions, the federal teachers union. it's an extraordinary conflict of interest. that's something that i think is a problem and should be addressed, but allowing teachers to strike on matters such as their compensation, i think is a right that exists in this country, but i do believe we have to have a -- a recognition that the person sitting across the table is representing the public and the students, not the teachers union. >> another issue that came out of chicago, governor, in your view what percentage of a teacher's salary should be determined by test scores? >> i don't know that there's a fixed percentage, but i do believe that there should be some connection between the capacity of the teacher to move students grade level to grade level and their compensation. i saw a study that was done in boston where they looked at the

students in a classroom and how many of those students actually improved a full grade by the end of the year, and there were some teachers that regularly moved virtually all of their students a full grade level or more, and there were other teachers who regularly were unable to do that. well, my view is those that are able to do that should be able to be more highly compensated. >> you were lucky enough to attend cranbrook in suburban detroit. as of this year the cost of a full ride year's tuition is $38,900. do you think we owe as a nation every pupil in america the equivalent of a $38,900 education every year? >> well, i don't know that a dollar number always equates to how effective the teacher is. i was delighted to have a terrific education at what was a private institution. that's not going to be available for the entire nation, but i know that there are teachers in the public system that are every bit as good as those in the

private system. i don't know that i place a dollar figure upon it because in fact as i look at my own experience in my state of massachusetts, dollar spending per pupil wasn't a very good determining of how well the student would do. i remember at one point i looked at all the school districts in massachusetts. we have 351 cities and towns, and i plotted spending per student against the achievement of the average student in each district, and there was no relationship at all interestingly, and as a matter of fact the district that spent the most per pupil and had the smallest classrooms, cambridge, massachusetts, their kids were in the bottom 10% of our state performers, so i realized it's not just money, that it is instead a focus in how you spend the money, attracting the best and brightest of the profession, pre-motoring the very best, measuring performance of students, giving students the incentives to excel, but the key for me relates to great teachers and creating families that can

support their child in education. when i was -- when i was governor of massachusetts, i fought very hard to insist that parents -- i wanted them to have a training class before they sent their kids to school. i wanted parents to have to go to a class to learn about education, to learn about the culture of education, to support their child. i got some resistance from some folks who said the poor don't have time to go to your class. i said i'll hold them on sundays, hold them on weekends. i want people to understand the importance of parental involvement, and i -- there's no question in my mind, you take the very worst school districts in america with the most troubled student bodies and you put in some of the best administrators and faculty members, and those schools will turn around. >> that was mitt romney with nbc's brian williams. for more on the issues facing our schools, head to educationnation.com. up next, we'll answer some of your more "ask away" questions. we've got willie geist, willie

"houdini" geist in the wind tunnel of shame this morning, and we'll be finding out what you want us to answer in just a little while, but first, these messages. ...at the best schools in the world... ...you see they all have something very interesting in common. they have teachers... ...with a deeper knowledge of their subjects. as a result, their students achieve at a higher level. let's develop more stars in education. let's invest in our teachers... ...so they can inspire our students. let's solve this.

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lyrica is not for everyone. lyrica may cause serious allergic reactions or suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worsening depression, or unusual changes in mood or behavior, or any swelling or affected breathing or skin, or changes in eyesight, including blurry vision or muscle pain with fever or tired feeling. common side effects are dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain, and swelling of hands, legs and feet. don't drink alcohol while taking lyrica. don't drive or use machinery until you know how lyrica affects you. with less pain, i'm feeling better now that i've found lyrica. ask your doctor if lyrica is right for your fibromyalgia pain. and now live from studio 1 ak-it's your favorite time of the morning. "ask away today." our magic question box is filled with your questions and filled with the one and only willie geist this morning, and once again we have no idea what the questions are. willie is frantically gathering

them. >> did you get them? >> willie looks like he's got a handful. come on down. >> you're the next contestant on "ask away today." >> got to remove the goggles. >> the goggles are like birth control goggles. >> my david blaine moment. >> let's start with mark livingston from connecticut. savannah, have you ever done any modeling? >> no. >> we should point out savannah -- >> i can barely walk, okay. i trip, i fall, i'm tall. thank you, i think you met that in a nice way. >> you've got a nice physique. >> you crazy. >> for savannah, who would win in an arm wrestling match? >> oh, my gosh, we know exactly. >> move over. >> pardon me. >> ready, go. >> wow. >> i have more strength than i thought. >> come on. >> this could go on a while. >> matt. over to you. >> erica doyle, did you always want to be a news anchor, or did

you want to be something else? >> i wanted to be a ship's anchor for a while, and that didn't work out. couldn't hold my breath. no, i didn't at all, not at all. purely by accident. >> let's do this one. jennifer graham, genoa, ohio. what is something that you do when you get up in the morning, right when you get up? >> i blow my nose. >> i drink coffee. >> especially today. i go right to the bathroom. >> wow. >> matt, this one is for you. matt, why do you call al mr. roker and not al, that's from gail in chicago? >> that's like an old -- when bryant was here he used to call him al bear, roker. he same says back to you mr. lauer. thank you, al. >> in the out of respect? >> one that was very popular, do the cast members wear and

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it is 7:56. good morning, everybody. i'm john kelly. parents will hear from school officials this morn on how they're planning to beef up security following a child abduction on campus. a spokesperson says the school is now planning to add new gates and install security cameras. the move comes after a man allegedly attacked a 9-year-old girl at school in a bathroom. last week. she was able to break free, we're happy to report, and police later arrested that man would now faces abduction and molestation charges. right now, let's get a check on your wednesday weather. >> hey, good morning to you, john. good morning to you at home. pretty crisp out there. a lot of fog, san francisco, cloudy conditions to san jose. the low, 70s, in the extreme east bay. a repeat performance from yesterday. a little bit cooler. you'll especially notice the

cooldown by the water. as we head throughout tomorrow, ooh, temperatures spike up to 94 degrees. in the upper 90s. flirting with triple digit heat into the weekend. next week, overall, though, looking cloudier, cooler, more like fall. >> we're looking over at 880. still, slow past the coliseum, northbound sides of the mim mitts freeway. we're seeing ago great deal of improvement over last three minutes since this changed. still slow, heading north. you know, no need for that, we should tough it out for the slowdown. the slowdown past the san mateo bridge. and then northbound, 280. southbound 680 approaching. all show a slow drive. has really piled on over the last 30 minutes. for the latest traffic and news, check us out on nbc bay area on facebook. we're back in one half hour with more local updates. the "today" show rolls on.

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♪ 8:00 now on a wednesday morning. it's the 26th day of september 2012. couple of showers in the forecast for later on. not too bad right now. and a nice crowd out on the plaza. we're going to take this weather after the string of beautiful weather we've had over the last couple of days. i'm matt lauer along with savannah guthrie. al is out in cleveland. we'll check in with him in just a second. coming up, we're going to meet a woman who takes dressing for work to a new level. >> let's put it this way. what she wears to work most people couldn't get away with. she calls herself dressy jesse. she posts the pictures on facebook. she's been doing it for three years and counting. each week has a theme from a for annie to names that begin with

z. that was the burger king theme week. she's going to explain why she does it and how it all got started. >> let's explain. she's dressed as an nbc page this morning, which is news. >> the new normal when it comes to the american family. everything from the economy to some changes in our society are redefining what it means to be a family and how families all across the country live. everything from multigenerational homes to same sex parents. we're going to be talking about that coming up in just a couple of minutes. >> all right, also ahead, the men's grooming products that have surprising benefits for women. we're going to show you which of the products you should raid from your husband or significant other's medicine cabinet coming up. >> can we also mention, our good friend meredith vieira, she's had troubles lately, some issues lately with her hands. couple of well-publish-sized injuries. the latest on who wants to be a

millionaire. >> oh, my gosh. >> kiss it, make it better. >> wow. >> you're excited. >> excitement. >> you can slap my face on the next one. >> she >> she took a shot from an over enthusestic gift. meredith is joining us on the phone. what happened? >> the guy, lee, got an answer to one of the questions right. he did one of those high fives that guys do each other in a bar when they are watching the football game and the ref gets the wrong call that favors their team. not the hand with the bad thumb from the olympics, but the other one. it was hard. i didn't really have to have a bandage on it, but i'm very dramatic, as you know. >> did you really threaten to sue, meredith?

>> no. i've only had to use my lawyer a couple times and that wasn't one of them. >> so the high five hand comes after the infolked thumb in london during the olympics. you had another problem. you showed me the finger one day, what was that? >> and i'll show it to you many more times. why don't you figure it out. >> but you're okay. you've healed? >> i'm fine. i'm going to see you guys in a few weeks. i'm looking forward to that. >> i heard your hitchhiking career is over. we're so sorry about that. >> my thumb got infected during the olympics. when i came back and it still hadn't healed. i went to my doctor and he said the antibiotic that they used were specifically for syphilis. i started to think where did that doctor think i was putting my thumb. it's so bizarre. >> you know when the conversation has gone one question too long. meredith, we love you. >> i love you guys, too. see you soon. >> looking forward to it.

>> you, too. bye. >> let's get a check of the news headlines from natalie standing by at the news desk. >> good morning, everyone. ohio's vital role in the presidential race has both candidates campaign manager the buckeye state today. president obama is speaking to college students in bowling green, ohio, and later at kent state university. mitt romney has three stops in ohio including a round table discussion on manufacturing. early voting starts there next week. iranian president ahmadinejad is addressing the u.n. general assembly today. his speech comes at a time when iran's nuclear program is under intense international scrutiny. it also comes on yom kippur. he denies israel's existence. he remarked this a new world order needs to emerge away from what he called american bullying. legendary singer andy williams died tuesday night after a year luongo battle with bladder caneser.

williams died at his home in branson, missouri, where he owned the moon river theater. "moon river" was his signature song. he hosted a show from 1962 to 1971. andy williams was 84. now a quick round up what has you talking online. lady gaga is turning her recent weight gain into a teaching moment. she's added a section called a body revolution 2013 to her website. it features pictures of her proudly stripped down to her underwear. she said she's proud at any size, but discusses her battles with eating disorders since the age of 15. this video of a bold 12-year-old is going viral. he held up a sign at a carrie underwood concert asking if she'd be his first kiss. moments later his wish came true. >> just so you know my husband is somewhere in this building backstage. he might be looking for you later. how are we going to do this?

>> lip to lip. [ laughter ] >> we'll try. >> good answer. that young man will be here live on friday perhaps looking for his second kiss. maybe savannah will give him that. and photographer dave wanted to document the life of his daughter with a series of funny pictures. but when he started posting them on facebook, fans around the world began clamoring for more. now dave's producing a world's best father calendar as a tribute to distracted, sleep deprived or just clueless dads. love that. very cute. it's 8:06 let's go over to cleveland for a check on the weather with mr. roker. >> those are fantastic. >> cute. really cute. >> those are cute. what a sense of humor. thanks so much, natalie. here from the balcony of the west side market here in cleveland, let's show you what we have going on. our pick city happens to be the

greatest location many the nation, cleveland, ohio, wkyz-hd. showers and thunderstorms today. high of 69 degrees. we look you can see that line of showers and thunderstorms stretching all the way from oklahoma up into new england behind the system. we've got clear air beautiful day. minneapolis sunny skies. 63 degrees today. we've got along the front a risk of strong storms from texas all the way into southern indiana. look for sunshine through texas . good wednesday morning. we're still waiting on the sunshine in san jose. you can see the stratus is thinning out. we are a couple of hours away from full sunshine. a nice day on tap. temperatures warm as yesterday give or take a couple of degrees. the extreme east bay cities with warmer conditions. 72 in fremont. 76 for san jose. temperatures hotter through the week.

and that's your and that's your latest weather. matt, we're going to hit the floor. on down there. that's a giant ketchup mascot buying bacon. >> we have the smell of bacon out here on the plaza. right? we're cooking bacon upstairs. we'll see you in a couple of minutes. when we come back, a woman who makes it halloween every day of the year. we're going to catch up with dressy jesse right after these messages. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix is proven to help people quit smoking. it reduces the urge to smoke. some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. if you notice any of these stop taking chantix and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history of depression or other mental health problems, which could get worse while taking chantix. don't take chantix if you've had a serious allergic

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been donning hats, wigs and even face paint for a daily photo for three years and counting. >> captain kangaroo, that was animal week. >> reporter: now known as dressy jess, she has over 1,000 fans on facebook, many of whom she he never met. dressy jessie transformed five days a week to post a picture from her office at the university of minnesota where she works as a marketing manager. capturing animals, celebrities, athletes, fictional characters and more. >> this was part of annie week. totally creepy. >> while some might call it an identity crisis, she calls it a hobby and chooses a weekly theme, like dr. suess or pot meth who help inspire her outfits. >> that's david hasselhoff with hot mess week. i think of it as performance art. >> reporter: and shows no signs

of stopping taking the phrase dress to impress literally every day. and jessica mooney, otherwise known as dressy jessie joins us now. good morning. >> good morning. >> i know you kicked off your trip to the big apple by dressing up as the statute of liberty and now you're an nbc page. how do you like it? >> feels great. agonized over what to wear and they said, no, we'll put you in something. >> let's get this out of the way. why do you do this? >> i don't know. i just started it to entertain myself and my friends, and then it just kept going, and it's been fun, and i've gotten a great reaction, and the ideas keep coming so i keep doing it. >> you know there are people out here who think, all right, this is cute. great costumes, but is this a little wacky? >> it's totally wacky. i think it's really weird. i can't believe i've done it for this long, but it's just fun. >> so how do you come up with the ideas? you've had 800 costumes. i mean, at some point don't you

think, gosh, i'm going to run out of ideas. >> i would have thought i'd run out of ideas. certainly didn't mean to do it for this long but the ideas come from everywhere. they come from my life, from current events, they come from family and friends and fans. sometimes it's, you know, one character that i want to do really bad so i work it into a week. sometimes it's a larger theme that i fit characters into. >> do you have any favorites that you've done? >> i do love rucussa annie. >> the one that's creepy. >> i knew it was going to be weird so there was a lot of anticipation for the week, and then when i execute it had and saw the photo, i was like oh, wow, that's really weird, so i was excited about that one. >> at this point i assume you have a stockpile of wigs and makeup and materials. >> there's a drawer of wigs and drawer of eyeglasses, makeup, lots of costumes, lots of bit of fabric. you know, it's a little of jerry rigged stuff. >> let's be clear, all of this is at your workplace. >> all at my workplace.

>> you must have an extremely understanding boss. >> now files are digital so i don't need all the file drawers for paper anyway. >> perfect for wigs. >> exactly. >> what else would you put there? >> will you keep this us? >> no signs of stopping. i'll do it as long as it's fun. >> you have a couple of kids. what do they think? >> they were amused at first and now with all the attention they think it's a little cool. >> i think it's cool too. >> dressy jessie, thanks so much. >> thank you. >> you'll have to give the page uniform back. >> i know, i know. coming up next, the new normals how the challenges of the modern world are redefining a traditional american family, coming up right after this. dad, there's something better for dinner than that.

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we all go. why not enjoy the go with charmin ultra strong? 8:20 now. we're back with a new series called "the new normal." the name of a new nbc comedy that got us thinking about what defines an american family these days. it turns out the definition is rapidly changing. for these men it's another day in the park. football, check. sunglasses, check. pacifiers and bubbles, check and check. behold the stay-at-home dad. >> i think as a community we honestly believe that dads can

be just as capable, confident and nurturing as moms can. >> some 2 million men are the primary care-givers in their families, and in this economy that number is on the rise. >> welcome to happy hour. >> lance summerfeld made a decision to take a leave from his job as a teacher and stay at home to raise his son jake. his wife works full time. >> we knew one of the two of us had to be home. it was a non-negotiable. my wife's career was on a great track. >> lance founded the support network nyc dads group. they are 600 daddies strong from all walks of life, and though their diaper bags might be gender neutral, their tools of the trade are the same. >> always wipes, hanadi wipes. >> extra wipes. >> have a bag to wear like this so it doesn't look that much like a purse. >> raising kids has never been costlier. it's estimated 4 million babies will be born in the u.s. this year. from their first breath to their 18th birthday parents will spend on average a whopping their

235,000, and oh, your newborn's future college tuition, try $81,000 a year. those numbers have many families rethinking their day-to-day living situation. >> we decided to move in together about a year and a half ago. >> recently alison bonds' family took in two roommates to help ease their financial burden, her mom and dad. >> the economic impact of sharing a home is one of the main reasons that it works very well. >> and the vaughns aren't alone. about 4.4 million homes have three generations or more living under one roof. that's the largest number of americans living in multi-generational households in modern history. call them the modern family, from at-home dads to shared households, it's a new day and a new normal. >> katherine perlman is a social worker and family coach. good morning, good to see you. >> good morning. >> we say the new normal. when we talk about stay-at-home

dads, do you think they are feeling from other people that it's normal, or do they face a stigma? >> i think there's still a stigma. the norm is the moms go to the playground and the pashs and play groups and do pickups. i think men are looked at is why is this dad here? >> what do they need to consider, things that will impact their lives for the better? >> i think that dads have to find their social group. i think some dads feel great are going to pick up and are with the moms and are comfortable with that. like the dad in the piece, some dads need to find their groove. >> the economy is clearly forcing a lot of generations under one roof. we talked about multi-generational families. it sounds like you could say oh, it's great, it's togetherness. the family is back together, but it does put strains on a family, doesn't it? >> that's right. it can be very stressful, and i think the dads have to be doing it for the right reasons so that they can feel comfortable about it. >> when we talk about multi-generational families, what -- what do they need to be prepared for. >> multi-generational families have multi-interests, different age groups, some are fast, some are slower so they have to compromise and have to

communicate. >> a lot of these families are experiencing -- we deal on the show a lot with boomerang kids. kids have come back home, and one of the big topics we hear over and over again in this new normal is you've got to define boundaries. >> that's right. >> how do you do that? >> there has to be open communication. parents have to speak with their kids. how long is this situation going to be? what are the curfews? are you allowed to have people over, so that they can come to some expectation. >> let's talk about a new group in the new normal. these are the multi-cultural families. i think the fastest youth group in the country, multi-racial children. >> that's right. >> and while we all applaud this, i think there are hidden struggles, and parents need to know about it going in. >> i think parents have to be afraid not to talk about race with their kids and be able to be open about their background and value difference. >> how do they help children? i mean, when a child comes home and says, look, i'm getting some issues. i'm hearing some things at school i don't like hearing, a parent has to be direct. >> right. parent has to be direct, and

they can practice with their kids. here's what you can say. when someone asks you, who are you, where do you come, from and here are your parents, here's how you practice. >> gay couples, kids then that have either two moms or two dads. what are the issues? are they the new normal, or are they still facing issues? >> i think it depends on where you live, but there's still a lot of people who don't understand two moms and two dads have a lot of questions and parents can help prepare their kids to deal with those. >> when it comes to dealing with kids, is the message you need to send your kids, it's about love, not about what the family looks like or is made up of? >> i think the truth of the matter is nowadays families are so diverse there isn't the typical mom, dad, two kids so there's room for everyone. >> katherine perlman, appreciate it. >> thanks for having me. it's 8:25, and the real cost of your free checking account, right after the local news.

good wednesday morning. 8:26. i'm laura garcia-cannon. the teenager driving suspected of killing a father and son will be in court today. he pleaded not guilty in august. he was speeding in april when he hit the car and his children. the 12-year-old hannah survived. he plans to work with sacramento lawmakers for people involved in deadly car crashes. let's hope that is not the case out there this morning. mike. no deadly crashes. we have an issue for the bay bridge.

the back up and maps i marked on the incline to the s curve. that is causing difficulty for everyone passing it. slowing up the incline. 880 and 580 slow through oakland. slow south through fremont and into san jose where the northbound routes are a problem. back to you, laura. we'll check back in a bit. for the latest news updates, you can check out nbc bay area on facebook. we will have another update in a half an hour. see you then.

there is no more heartbreaking a sight than the sad. the exposed. the public testament to unrealized potential in such epic proportion. conversely, there is nothing more glorious... than the last minute comeback.

8:30 on this wednesday morning. the 26th day of september, 2012. the yom kippur, the oldest day on the jewish calendar and a day off from school for kids across the country and here in new york city. good morning, everyone, i'm savannah guthrie sit i alongside matt lauer and natalie morales. just up, the cost of free checking. >> checking out your statement, a lot of fees are on the rise. paying more and more for the so-called free checking accounts. why are they on the rise and

what can you do to actually beat some of those fees? advice on that coming up in a few minutes. also for ladies, an unlikely source for your beauty routine but there's men's products that your husband or spouse or boyfriend might have that you should raid so we'll get into that and find out why they are so good. >> manly, yes, but i like it, too. the old irish spring commercial. >> a lot of products out there for women. also coming up, more on the story behind the creative father-doubter photos that we showed you a little bit earlier on in our trending this morning. there's savannah and i. >> we know who the big baby was. >> love those pictures, absolutely amazing. >> cool. >> first we want to say hello to justin, the star of nbc's new show. >> hi, thanks. >> we're very excited to see the show. let me see if i've got the premise right. >> yeah. >> you're a brilliant veterinarian who is wonderful with animals but kind of egh with people.

come on. >> i'm grumpy. i'm grumpy, the character. >> why? >> because it's funny, i guess. >> yeah. >> rather than -- >> a wholesome nice guy. >> who wants to see that every week? >> you actually work with not just like puppies and kittens. you work with all kinds of animals. are you an animal lover, and how are your encounters going? >> i am now. yeah. well, it's great. every job has its own unique little extras, and that's this one. we have dogs and cats every day, but then there will be something special each episode. last week was a skunk and a pork peen, and i think we have an ostrich. >> anything. >> the occasional beckal tiger. >> any strange things happening with the animals? >> that tiger was on a gurney, and someone came to their senses and said maybe a cage is a bit better. >> "weeds" just wrapped up its eighth season. >> crazy. >> feeling a little bit sad that that went away. >> like when you graduate high

school. it's sad but you wouldn't want to do another year. >> some people do do another year. >> that's true. i could have been held back. >> exactly. >> justin kirk from marijuana to animals, we look forward to the debut of "animal practice." can you catch it tonight, 8:00, 7:00 central right here on nbc. >> thanks a lot. >> good to see you. >> good to have you here. >> we should go to cleveland. mr. roker has a check of the weather. see, we all get in on the mr. roker thing. equal love. >> and we've got a lot of love going on here. we've got the boys and girls club of cleveland. we've got slider from the indians, and condiments. don't do that. don't do that. that's just rude. anyway, we've got some very cute kids over here. we're on the floor of the west side market here in cleveland celebrating 100 years of fabulous food for cleveland. let's see what we've got for you as far as your weather is concerned starting with today. expecting to see plenty of sunshine in the southeast. however, rain moves into the northeast, and we've got heavy

thunderstorms here in ohio stretching back into oklahoma. beautiful in the pacific northwest with some fog along the coast. for tomorrow, look for sunshine, cooler conditions in up state new york and new england. more rain in the central plains. heat continues down through texas into the southwest. sunny and mild in the pacific 8:34 on a wednesday morning. making a live look at the san mateo bridge. mostly cloudy overhead. this is the general sky picture over the bay area. we will see the sunshine through noon today. just a bit longer than when it broke through yesterday. as a result, temperatures will be cooler. 67 degrees in san francisco. not too shabby. in san jose, 76 is nice. 72 in fremont. livermore up to 88. hey, guys, remember, you get three cannolis, get one free.

leave the gun and take the cannoli. >> why do all men love that quote? i don't know. al, thank you so much. we'll turn to a serious topic. today is actually mesothelioma awareness day across the country, raising money for research into the disease. what can people do to do that? >> go to meso.org, find out about as much information about mesothelioma and please make a donation for some great work. >> thank you, thank you very much. coming up next, free checking. is it really free, but first coming up next, free checking. is it really free, but first i'm a professional stylist but styling my friend's is my favorite. they all love the latest trends but none of them want to pay full price.

they each have their own unique style, so t.j.maxx is a great place because they have such an incredible mix of designers for so much less than the department stores. when my friends feel beautiful i just feel like i scored. fashion direct from designers. savings direct to you. i'm a maxxinista and now so are all my girls. t.j.maxx. let us make a maxxinista out of you.

we're back at we're back at 8:37. today in today's money, the so-called free checking account. according to a new bank rate.com survey. fees are up as much as 25%. there are ways to cut your

costs. sharon epperson, nbc's personal finance correspondent. good to see you. >> good morning. >> according to fdic, the bank revenues dropped 62 billion dollars, about 1.9%. is that why the increased fees? >> bank revenues did drop to that level. we're seeing a loss in bank revenues due to the fact there are major changes in regulations, regulations dealing with debit cards as well as overdraft plans. >> we're paying higher fees. that's undeniable. monthly maintenance fees are up 25%. what exactly is a monthly maintenance fee and why do the banks feel the need to pass this cost on to us? >> you're paying the tellers, as well as the maintenance of the online systems an the atm servicing. all of this goes into the overhead of the banks and this is what you're paying for. >> out of network atm fees, now on average about $2.50. but your bank may charge you more. >> your bank may charge you more, the average is $4. >> the noninterest checking accounts, they're free.

that's a percent that's free down from 45% last year. 76% in 2009. are they going away completely? >> they're definitely declining and it's rapidly. the cost of doing business is a cost. they have to make up the decline that they're seeing in revenue due to the overdraft fees and debit card fees. >> if you're mad about paying tease fees, as an individual bank customer, do you have leverage? >> you do have leverage. you can switch to a different bank, online banks, credit unions often have lower fees or free checking programs that might be better for you. you can say to your own bank, maybe this particular bank account doesn't work for me anymore. this is the bank account i had in college. it may not work when i'm buying my first home. >> let's go through these things individual individually. a higher bank -- >> it will save you money. you have so have a high balance. the average is over $700 in order to have a free checking account. some can go as high as $1600. a couple thousand dollars.

>> use your own bank's atm. >> it's obvious but a lot of people go out of the network. that will cost you money. you can go on your smartphone. find the atms in your network in the location you want. you can also get cash back instead of going to the atm. >> does that always work. you swipe your debit card and you say i want $40 on top of this, aren't banks finding ways to charge fees. >> the merchants might but you should be okay if you try to do that. >> avoid overdrafts. this is where they get socked by fees. >> that's what the banks were banking on a few years ago. there are ways to go around this. do not opt into the current si overdraft. >> why not? >> you are subject to an overdraft fee in your bank account goes to a zero balance. you make that debit card purchase and still goes through but you're in overdraft and you're paying that fee of over $30. >> you mentioned briefly a second ago, use a credit union, community or online bank.

is there a downside to that? >> they may not have as many at ms, those networks are growing. the key with any financial institution that you go to, make sure you get the online mobile alert. 24/7 banking. take advantage of that. don't fall into overdraft. don't get hit with the fees. >> get your paycheck directly deposite deposited. >> that's a simple way. as long as you make a direct deposit and keep a certain balance. direct deposit can help get that free checking. >> well done. thank you very much. up next, grooming products for men that women should add to their beauty routine. but firs

back now at 8:43. this morning on "today's beauty," what to borrow from the boys. most guys don't like to spend a lot of time in front of the

mirror, so their beauty products need to be quick and effective and some can be beneficial to woman as well. elaine is the beauty director at "self" magazine. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> time to raid our guy's medicine cabinet, huh? >> these are great things that you can buy for your guy and then use for yourself. >> good. a gift to yourself. got it. >> exactly. >> the first thing is a wounds cleanser. >> called mr. fix it, an anti-microbial wound rescue balm. fantastic. put it on a little cut i got with my blender and helps to fight against staph infections, bacterias, so it keeps you clean and keeps your wounds healing faster. >> does it sting? >> does not sting. >> okay, good. is this for runers? >> a great product for runner, dry run foot cream and extracts from volcano which helps absorb moisture. >> volcano? >> okay. >> volcanic extract so that helps to prevent friction, you know, in your shoes, so it helps -- >> keep them dry.

a lot of runners have their toenails fall off. supposed to help with that. >> won't help your toenails as much. it will help the chafing. >> i know from personal experience but that's another experien experience. lush dirty spring wash, what's that? >> it's a shampoo and body wash. it's a menthol and spearmint combination, a great scent, very uplifting. >> not too manly. >> and i think it's a great thing to have in your gym bag, after a spin class, trying to cool off and put your clothes back on, great product. >> okay. a lot of people around here were loving this woody's, some kind of three in one bar. >> fantastic three in one bar. a shaving cream, a shampoo and body wash so it's a great thing to travel with so you can go on board with that. >> it lathers up sufficiently like a shaving cream. >> yes. >> got to do the smell test. >> delicious. not too girly or too boyy, perfect. >> what's this stuff? >> it's a cool fix balm and also

a cleanser, and this helps to prevent in-grown hairs. this is a fantastic combination of products. you can use one or both to fix in-grown hairs, so like under your arms, bikini line. >> men are supposed to use it after shaving. >> okay. >> but you can use it on other parts of your body? >> places you might be shaving. >> exactly. >> all right. what do we have here? >> from clinique, an eye balm designed for anti-fatigue. all need, that need it for undereye puffiness, and our blogger said it's great for hangover. >> men and women get those equally. >> a good fixer. >> there are women products that do the same thing. >> yes. >> are they essentially the same or something about this that makes it better? >> this will have like maybe a little less fragrance which is nice if you're not into fragrance, and it goes on and it's, you know, great, yeah. >> old spice. we knew this was come. like the smell of old spice but

do women want to smell like old spice? >> that fragrance is so individual and subjective. go for what you like. >> yeah. >> but our blogger loved this fragrance because it's -- it's super fresh and clean. >> oh, it is nice. >> and, again, i think it's one of those great gym bag things. >> yeah. is it stronger? >> a little bit stronger. >> what was the old commercial, made for a woman but strong enough for a man, made for a man but strong enough for a woman. >> all amazing fragrances we had women test in a blind sniff test and tell us what they liked for themselves and for their guy. this one from prado one. a really classic light scent. >> can i try it. >> it's glued on. >> and then one from nautica and one from lacoste and one from soul to soul. >> this is nice. >> banana republic has an amazing one called wild blue, and it's super fresh. >> some of these men's

fragrances would probably smell a little differently on woman. >> all fragrances smell differently on everybody, it's all about your phemones and how they combine. >> you have to try and see what you like. your guy can wear it and he'll smell one way and you'll wear it and smell another way but you'll be matching. >> elaine, great ideas. i like it. >> thank you. >> just ahead. kathie lee and hoda have done it. they have joined the "ask away today." they want out. >> how does your hair look good? >> lots of gel. lots of gel. >> product. product. >> product. prodthis is a lot of food for 4 bucks. yeah... think they made a mistake? i don't know - maybe. the fried cheese melt is back for just 4 bucks. 1 of 4 big 4-dollar meals on the 2-4-6-8 value menu. only at denny's. open all night.

we're back now at 8:45, and we've got leonard's look. this morning mike leonard tracks down two men we last saw as young boys, two men with big talent and very high hopes to see how their lives turned out. >> hey. hey. >> reporter: we first met more than two decades ago. >> we're buddies, man, look at us. you know what i mean? 22 years later, dude. i mean, to me, that was more important that came out of that. >> the friendship. >> we barely knew each other. >> a long friendship. >> reporter: and it all started with a letter to nbc written back in 1990 by a younger danny wilson, prompting a younger me to travel down to the seventh

ward of new orleans for a "today" profile on danny's lifelong friend, amateur artist lyndon, he of the big dreams and a very small portfolio. you saw something in him. >> saw something he had in him, deep within him. it wasn't his hobby but part of his life. >> reporter: a life soond to be made better by turning junk, his mom's discarded gum wrappers, into art. >> perfect material for what i -- for what i use them for. it's the perfect thing. can you see where even the twists and folds into the material takes on characteristic of movement >> reporter: story aired on "today" in october of 1990, and then something magical happened. >> ripley's believe it or not museum saw that segment, and i think they bought ten -- at least ten and put them in their museums around the world.

>> reporter: encouraged by the demand for his art and supported by pell grants and student loans, all of which he has since repaid, lyndon left new orleans to attend the prestigious california institute of the arts where he learned to animate his gum wrappers. >> it's ironic, man, you know, trash. >> reporter: which brings us to the present, inside the production facility of vancouver's image engine where lyndon, a man with a grown son, works on an upcoming motion picture, the 20th of lyndon's career. as the supervisor of animation, his movie credits include "the tree of life," the last two "matrix" movies and a number of other well-known productions. earlier this year his live action debut film, "the lift," won best director and best movie short at the madrid film festival. as for danny wilson, now living in a suburb of atlanta and a married father of one as well,

he, too, has reaped the rewards of high hopes and hard work from his earlier stints road managing ll cool j, puff daddy and other big name musical acts to radio station ownership and his ongoing crusade to clean up the lyrics of hip-hop. >> life and death, either you're going to speak life or speak death. i prefer to be around music and things that speak life. >> reporter: life in all its wondrous twists and turns. 22 years ago a young man was making something out of nothing in the quiet of his new orleans home, and then his friend wrote a letter to a reporter. >> and it was a springboard to a lot of things that happened since then but, you know, it's just been cool just to be friends all that time. >> reporter: for "today," mike leonard, nbc news, vancouver, british columbia. >> one of my favorite things about mike leonard, when he goes back and catches up with people so we don't forget them.

that's a nice story. >> great story of success there, too. >> nice how it turned out. meanwhile, look who has made an appearance in our "ask away today" questions, kathie lee and hoda with a couple of glasses of wine. can you guys grab glasses while drinking? >> oh, you have no idea. >> god one, hode. >> got one here. >> i was just wondering if savannah will marry me. bob ferraro from missouri. >> will marry you. >> oh, well, bob, we've never met, so i guess -- >> just say yes. >> sure. >> i was told by our producer it was one of the most frequently asked questions, marriage proposals. >> whether she would marry bob ferraro. >> marriage proposals from savannah. >> that's flattering, that's nice. >> what was the best and worst thing that you tasted after a food segment from brenda cunningham. >> i remember there was that

avocado popsicle or something. who made that, mark bittman. >> i thought that was good actually. >> i hate coconut so we've had a bunch of coconut recipes. >> how can you hate coconut? >> i don't like coconut. >> fish in the morning for me is always a little -- >> stop talking, stop talking. >> if you had the ability to change anything about matt, what would it be and why, cindy from kingston, pennsylvania. >> oh, cindy. >> that's good, that's good. >> nothing. >> no, go ahead. you can answer the question. >> if he were taller. >> i'd like him to mess up more, he's too perfect. >> then what would happen. >> i don't know. i don't know. then i wouldn't be taller than you sometimes when i wear my tall heels. >> i don't think you're taller than me in bare feet. >> look at natalie's heels. she gets to wear the tall heels. >> i'm tall every day. >> we're over here. >> sorry. >> hello.

>> i've got questions up my wazoo, i don't know about you. we've got to go. ten seconds. >> bye. nice talking to you. >> thanks for playing our game. we're back after your local news. >> you're actually perfect the way you are. good morning. it's 8:56. i'm laura garcia-cannon. san jose firefighters are trying to figure out what caused a house to go up in flames. three people were inside that house at the time. they did manage to get out safely. neighbors helped to put water on the fire using garden hoses until firefighters could arrive. the fire started in the garage. the homeowners say they will

rebuild. let's look at the forecast with meteorologist christina loren. i hate to break it to you. last day of the 80s before we hit the 90s. we have a hot stretch of weather to get through before it finally feels like fall. maybe getting showers in the middle of next week. [ female announcer ] pillsbury crescents on their own are wonderful

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back now with more of "today" on a wednesday morning. it's the 26th day of september, 2012. and savannah reminds me that it's jackie agnolette's birthday. our assistant, celebrating a birthday. we thank you very much for all she does and wish her a happy one. i'm matt lauer with savannah guthrie and willie geist. al is out in cleveland. we'll check in with him in just a little while. and coming up, you're talking about the florida gators. >> but not the football team. >> which ones, then? >> the ones that are apparently becoming vips at children's birthday parties. i guess it's quite trend in florida and it appears to be legal, but would you do it?

we'll talk about that. and then, also we're going to talk about something called bagel botox. >> what is it? >> i actually don't -- bagel botox. do you know what it is? >> i do know what it is, but you'll have to wait to see -- >> give us a little more than that. >> apparently the new trend is to get a bagel shape in your head by injecting botox. >> why? >> you'll have to wait and see. >> maybe a little cream cheese right on the side. maybe a little tomato, salt, onions. sounds delicious? >> what's worse -- that or having alligators at your children's birthday. we'll also talking about the hottest stories online, including lady gaga coming clean and talking about her battles with bulimia since a teenager. and rihanna's tweets open to the public to ex-boyfriend chris brown. and we'll have some high and low-end renovations. you may be thinking about doing a renovation or starting from the ground up. we'll talk to the twins known as the property brothers. flooring, cabinets, they'll help you decide what you can afford. >> property brothers like, no, that's mine, no, that's mine.

like most twins. a lot to get to. natalie's inside at the news desk with all the headlines. >> good morning again, matt, savannah, and willie. good morning, everybody. the campaign trail heads to ohio today, where both candidates are making their pitches to voters in the battleground state. mitt romney is making a serious push as polls show that the republican nominee trails president obama there. this as the first debate is now just one week from today. iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad addresses the united nations general assembly today. on tuesday, president obama told the assembly that tehran is running out of time to resolve its disputed nuclear program and vowed the u.s. will do what it must to prevent iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. in an interview with the associated press, ahmadinejad called for a new world order. meanwhile, here in new york city, public outrage this morning as the openly anti-israel ahmadinejad addresses the u.n. on this yom kippur, the holiest day on the jewish calendar. legendary singer andy williams died tuesday night

after a year-long battle with bladder cancer. williams died at his home in branson, missouri, where he owned the moon river theater. "moon river," of course, was williams' signature song. andy williams was 84. it was a bad call, but they are sticking to it, so says the nfl. upholding that controversial call by replacement referees that gave the seattle seahawks a victory monday night against green bay. the league did acknowledge tuesday that refs should have called an offensive pass interference penalty on seattle's final play, a move that would have given green bay the win. and an alert from the world's health organization that a new virus similar to sars has been detected in london and in the middle east. there is currently no evidence of an outbreak, but health officials are exercising hypervigilance. low-cost airline air asia is putting babies in the back. it's advertising a quiet zone on long-haul flights starting in february.

the first seven economy class rows will be reserved for flyers age 12 and over. they'll be separated from the rest of coach by bulkheads and lavatories. the company's website says we know that sometimes all you need is some peace and quiet. a record 170 million americans are expected to celebrate halloween this year and they'll spend nearly $8 billion on costumes, decorations, and candy. that's up 17% from last year, and that now includes $370 million on pet costumes alone. and these little angels sure get a bad wrap. check out these baby tasmanian devils. this year 40 of them were born in new south wales, australia, where a breeding facility is trying to save the little guys from extinction. once they're healthy enough, they'll be released into the wild to embark on their own devilish destinies. they're actually kind of cute. four minutes past the hour right now. let's go back to al in cleveland with a check of our weather for us at the fish market, al. >> reporter: well, we are at the

west side market in cleveland. got a lot of fun folks here, got kids here from city year. they donated a year of service to americorps. that's pretty cool. friends of last night's event, the northeast ohio adoption services. the cleveland scream team, with the cavaliers. you stopped screaming since lebron left, right? you still scream? okay, they still scream. they still scream. let's check your weather. see what we've got for you. we are talking about, again, more showers and thunderstorms along this frontal system, from oklahoma all the way into pennsylvania. heavy rain, the futurecast going out 24 hours, shows you this line of showers and thunderstorms, firing up and moving into the northeast. some of this rain is going to be pretty good. in fact, we have a low chance, but still a chance of some tornadoes along this system. rainfall amounts generally anywhere from about three to four inches between oklahoma city and pittsburgh. and look. you heard the story about the shortage of bacon.

no shortage here. oh, yes. we're thinking of installing the bacon cam here 9:06 on a wednesday morning. looking good this morning. we have low clouds hanging out. let's take you to futurecast. visibility is improving. it is misty. we stopped the clock at noon and the clouds push out to sea. lots of sunshine for the second half of the day. temperatures are about where they were yesterday. 76 degrees today in san jose. 88 in livermore. up to 84 tomorrow. >> we're at j&j meats. what is this? a smokey? a mild smokey. that's a good smokey, savannah. oh, my gosh, you're torturing us, al. come on! >> bring the bacon home.

time now for today's "take three," where we each give your take on stories that have caught your attention and ours. what are we talking about? the gators story. >> who thought this was a good idea? apparently in florida, there was a new thing there now, where some people are actually having these pool parties with baby alligators. >> as we do. >> and yes, i guess it's sort of a party favor there. the real, live alligators, their mouths are taped shut, as you see there. so apparently, the company that does this is doing this on the legit. it is legal. but, obviously, a lot of people have voiced complaints since this story aired. you know, i think it's cruelty to the animals, not to mention the poor people in the pool there. >> well, it looks like the kids are having a good time, but that doesn't always mean you should do it, right? parents? >> it's all fun and games. >> the company says it's educational. they are able to actually teach the kids about alligators and the wild. >> as a father of young kids, i've been to these birthday

parties where they bring animals with and it's cool to have a bunny rabbit or something like that, but never a vicious killing machine. i've noticed -- >> come to our fire-breathing dragon party. >> you can just picture the child showing up at his or own birthday party and saying, mommy, i wanted a dora party. get in the pool with the alligator! no. >> that's just not the way to -- >> they say it's safe, but when the story happens, we'll all look back and say, of course not. >> when the alligator figures out how to take the tape off and turns on the kids. >> let's turn to the sports pages. willie, what's going on? >> all anybody's talking about, the move from the sports page to the front page of every newspaper is these replacement officials. it's been bad for three weeks. the regular officials have been locked out by the owners. they're sitting at home watching, monday night football, a terriblended the game, decided the game. the packers lost and now the world is coming down on these officials and the nfl saying, you are compromising the

integrity of the game. >> and a "call me, maybe" parody occurred, so you know it's bad. >> this over a $3 million, i understand, negotiation lockout, right? for a $10 billion industry? >> it's about a pension. it's about as pension. so the nfl made almost $10 billion. this is about $3 million that the nfl won't give up. and the truth is, their brand is so strong and they know people are going to continue to watch the games, that they're not compelled to do anything about it. >> i'm going to throw something out there, and you can call me crazy, am i the only one who feels kind of bad for this guy, lance easley, the 52-year-old professional banker turned ref who made that bad call? am i going to be getting all kinds of hate mail? >> i feel kind of bad for him. willie doesn't. >> he's making $3,000 a game. clearly, he had no professional, you know, training. >> right. >> had no clue what to do on a professional field. that said, you know, he's put in that position where he has to

make that call. >> bob told us off-camera, the guy who watches the replay, i'm using technical terms here, willie, i know you'll appreciate that, whoever watches the replay, those guys are not replacements. >> no, no. it was the league. >> so why didn't he make the call that everybody thinks was bad? >> reverse that decision, right. >> because the call on the field, not to get too deep into it, that it was a touchdown, so you have to have irrefutable evidence that it was not a touchdown. natalie, i agree with you. these refs, they were given a crash course, because they saw this lockout coming, we'll train you how to referee an official game. and they're in over their head. >> is it true some of these officials came from the lingerie league? >> or they didn't even pass the lingerie league. >> what is the lingerie league? >> it's not so much a league, but a disgusting exhibition. where women run around in bikinis and tackle each other.

>> i thought it was a sports term i wasn't familiar with. no, just what i expected. have you guys heard about the driverless car? >> another great idea. like the gators -- >> an idea whose time has come. >> the governor of california, jerry brown, has signed a law that lets self-driving cars on to public roads. it will probably take years before a fully autonomous car is out on the roads. but there's a new google-modified prius. >> why? why do we want this? >> you can aid the blind, for example. one reason they give. and drivers who have had too much to drink, this could be an option. or you could take a cab, just saying. but there it is. >> how would you feel, you look across, and there's no one in the driver's seat? >> i just -- i just wait for the day where one of those gets in an accident. >> i was going to say, when they cut you off in traffic, who do you give an obscene gesture to? >> it's so sad -- >> that doesn't work, right? >> remember that great scene in the vacation movie, the

original, when they pan around, and everyone in the car is asleep, including chevy chase at the wheel? nothat could be reality, but safe. i think it was a lexus a couple of years ago that came out with the self-parking car. thought this was a terrible idea. and apparently that works. i wouldn't know. but maybe this has some promise. >> now, matt, don't we have to have some kind of correction -- >> the bagel botox, it's not technically botox. this is a bit of a -- i don't know if you could call it a trend, but something going on in japan where people are injecting their foreheads with saline. >> it's so much better, then. >> yeah, so much better. it's not botox, it would forever damage their foreheads like that, but they create this circular bagel shape as you see there. >> why?! >> apparently it came from mod-con and all the -- >> mod-con? do we have a note about this? >> modification scene. body modification scene. so this is something that

they're just experimenting with. i guess national geographic has this show "taboo" and that's where they show this trend coming to light. it's not permanent. it lasts like 16 to 24 hours. >> you know, i do not see a "today" show segment in the future, how to get that bagel botox saline look for less. >> you have no expression on your forehead, at least. >> well, you do have an expression, it says, i just got hit in the head with a sledgehammer. that's the look you've got. >> we'll move on. and coming up, lady gaga answers her weight critics and more of the hottest stories buzzing online today, but first, these messages. release me! you should eat something that's good for you

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[ female announcer ] new progresso recipe starters. your head-start to home cooked. from the viral video-of-the-moment to what's trending on twitter, it's hard to keep up with what's online. we brought in the senior editor of the social news site buzzfeed, and he'll help us stay on top of it all. matt, good morning. >> good morning. we'll break this down into three parts. we'll start with looking up, popular search terms online, and i understand we'll begin with lady gaga. >> yeah, totally. lady gaga is in the news. starting last week there were unflattering photos taken of her at a concert in amsterdam, and then after that she said, you know what, guys, i gained 25 pounds, so what, but then her critics kind of came after her

and everyone started criticizing her, so then just yesterday she tweeted out, you know, i'm starting this new product called the body revolution. embrace your body and sent out a twoet and said, you know what, this is my body. this is who i am and i can't change that, so everyone go on littlemonsters.com, which is her own website that she started. she's such a social media maven. she started the social network herself, and it is totally starting to take off and people are starting to, you know, get into it. >> giving her online power in the number of followers she has on twitter. whatever she does will become a big story. another one like that is rihanna. she's trending right now. why is that? >> totally. so rihanna is brilliant. rihanna makes more news with her tweets than when she even has like a performance or gives an interview. she's totally working the social media that way. rihanna is in the news because just a couple days ago she tweeted at her ex chris brown and said, good luck at your court date. like i'm praying for you, all

this stuff, and that issue is one of the most controversial topics in rihanna's career, so her tweeting at chris brown on twitter on this totally public. like she could have sent him a private message. could have sent him a text. >> might even have his e-mail address. >> probably has his e-mail address. ridiculous she didn't do that. playing the game right now and using social media to get us to talk about her. >> knows how to keep her name in the news. hothashtag. just talking about it, the nfl replacement refs. going wild on twitter. >> everyone is talking about this. can't get away from it, on twitter, on facebook, everything. the big tweet of the week so far has come from a lineman from the green bay packers, t.j. lang, and he said, you know what, fine me and pay the refs. let's just do this. let's get the refs back. that tweet has 90,000 tweets.

that has more tweets than when the president of the united states came out in support of gay marriage which is one of the biggest hot topics of the past decade. it has more tweets than when beyonce, like the legendary beyonce, made her first tweet and even more tweets than when nasa tweeted out that we landed on the planet mars. >> wow. >> it's totally insane and going to be when we look back at the end of the year at one of the stories, that we're going to be like, wow, this was the story. >> a million tweets about it that night on "monday night football." >> it's insane. >> our last category is the it list, a couple of viral items. first up, this father. showing the pictures a little bit this morning. >> love this dad. this dad is so awesome. so, you know, we've been talking about more serious stuff and serious problems. the internet, it's all about the emotional connection you have with something, and these photos. how can you not like look at the photos and say this is so cute. like the pancakes this. dad is totally awesome. the cool thing about this is this is actually becoming a trend online with the super

talented photographer dads. >> that's the thing. these aren't like my home photographs. this guy is staging excellent photographs, and he just had his daughter a couple years ago. >> and her name is alice bee. how cool is that? we know this girl is cool. >> matt from buzzfeed online, appreciate it. >> appreciate it. >> how to help children master the art of good writing with an education award winner, right after these messages. imagine facing the day with less chronic osteoarthritis pain. imagine living your life with less chronic low back pain. imagine you, with less pain. cymbalta can help. cymbalta is fda-approved to manage chronic musculoskeletal pain. one non-narcotic pill a day, every day, can help reduce this pain. tell your doctor right away if your mood worsens, you have unusual changes in mood or behavior or thoughts of suicide. antidepressants can increase these in children, teens, and young adults. cymbalta is not approved for children under 18.

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as part of our education nation summit, i met the new school and venture launch fund, the second annual innovation challenge looking for imaginative innovators to create technological solutions to improve education. jeff and lou are behind the venture called no red ink, this year's winners. good morning, congratulations. >> good morning, thank you. >> big prize, you get to be here and meet us, wow. how is it going so far? jeff, tell me about this. actually great what you came up with. app called no red ink to help teachers in the classroom. >> after teaching high school english for eight years kids

struggled so much with grammer and feedback, and i really wanted to provide a tool that would allow them to get excited and engaged about what they work on. >> how much technology plays into the fact that our children aren't great at grammar anymore, texting or facebook, they take the shortcuts to a lot of grammar? >> a lot of shortcuts, but one of the things that many people don't appreciate that's broken, the teachers hand back papers marked up full of red ink, but students don't do anything with that feedback. throw the paper out so what jeff built, which is so exciting, is a tool that actually let's them close that feedback loop and practice with grammar and get excited about it, because the sentences are so fun to work with. >> like an app that's widely available and used by teachers everywhere, yeah in. >> every student and teacher can go to noredink.com and create an account. >> fantastic. jeff and leo, congratulations. >> congratulations, guys. well done. >> excellent. >> and coming up, tweet and

southern. southern dessert star kimberly schottman is here right after your local news and weather. has meaning ♪ ♪ i woke up to a light bulb on ♪ every little thing is possible now ♪ [ female announcer ] we've added a touch of philadelphia cream cheese to our kraft natural cheese to make it creamier so whatever you make isn't just good, it's amazing. ♪ ...is amazing with the love that i found ♪ ♪ but i'm still stubbed up. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesn't unstuff your nose. what? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus liquid gels speeds relief to your worst cold symptoms plus has a decongestant for your stuffy nose. thanks. that's the cold truth! nature valley trail mix bars are made with real ingredients you can see. like whole roasted nuts, chewy granola, and real fruit. nature valley trail mix bars. 100% natural. 100% delicious.

good wednesday morning. it is 9:26. i'm laura garcia-cannon. san jose police are trying to figure out who attacked a chef on his break last night. officers arrived at las palapas restaurant last night. no word if he was shot or possibly stabbed. he was taken to the hospital. we are awaiting his condition while police are trying to figure out how many suspects are involved. b.a.r.t. is releasing video showing an explosion at the station this month. the video was posted on "the san

francisco chronicle" last month. we will play it again. if you look at the top of the screen on the right, you can see the arc of electricity. the explosion was caused by metallic debris. it caused $600 worth of damage. let's take a quick break. we'll be right back.

9:28. still mostly cloudy in san jose. an indication of highs ending up in the upper 70s in san jose. it will be nice in the south bay. 88 degrees. getting hot as you head out to the extreme east bay. cool in san francisco. everything changes as of tomorrow. temperatures jump by 5 to 10 degrees. 94 degrees inland on thursday. look at where we are headed? flirting with the triple digits on saturday and sunday and showers next week. little bit of everything.

busting out everything. busting out the slow down at southbound 880 at fremont. we still have the slow drive from dakota to milpitas. the map shows you the orange and red. 680 slow out of the sunol grade. the same area i call the funnel. 101 and 880 showing the slowing. slow from 87 north and a look at the bay bridge toll plaza. we have a back up here. back to you. thank you, mike. we will have another local news update in a half hour. have a great morning.

♪ ♪ but you make me feel >> that's alexa ray, wife of christy brinkley and billy joel, the singer/songwriter is a woman featured in a book featuring women are everyday stories to tell. i'm savannah guthrie along with savannah guthrie and willie geist. >> renovating your hem or building it from scratch, all right, get along, boys, they

have high and low-priced options for you. >> they are fighting already. >> and then a southern apple crisp from a southern gal who has got some singing skills. little big town's kimberly slatman, the country music star showing off her cooking skills in the kitchen and trying to solve the nation's unemployment problem trying to create a million jobs for college grads with help from hollywood celebrities. >> big names signing up. first a check in with al roker in cleave land with another check of the weather for us. hey, al. >> at the west side market celebrating 100 years of serving great food and produce to the cleveland area. all of our friends hanging around with us. we're actually in ohio city so we like that. let's check out what's happening for the next couple of days, starting for today. risk of strong storms stretching from texas all the way into the middle ohio river valley. some fog along the pacific northwest coast. sunny and warm through the southwest. east coast looking pretty good,

although a little rain moves into the northeast of new england. tomorrow we're expecting more sunshine from the great lakes into new england with cooler weather. rain from hockey hockey into the mid-atlantic states. sunny and mild in the pacific northwest. the heat continues along the 9:32. a live look at oakland. mostly cloudy skies. gray skies overhead. this is the general sky over the greater bay area. the sun will break through the clouds. a nice sunny finish. temperatures will be warm in livermore at88. 75 in oakland. 67 degrees with partly cloudy to mostly cloudy skies through the day in san francisco. by tomorrow, a flow sets up and we heat up. 94 degrees. that's it from cleveland. we'll see you later. >> al, how many characters do you have there with you? >> i'm bringing home some bacon. >> what about the mascot? >> how many characters are there

with you? >> no. the mascot is staying here. >> thank you, al. coming up next, from cabinets to countertops, home renovation from "the property brothers." there's a kick to it. there's a pop. wahlalalalallala! pepper, but not pepper, i'm getting like, pep-pepper. it's kind of like drinking a food that's a drink, or a drink that's a food, zip zip zip zip zip! i'm literally getting zinged by the flavor. smooth, but crisp. velvety. kind of makes me feel like a dah zing yah woooooh! [ male announcer ] taste it and describe the indescribable. could've had a v8. woooo! ...but add some ham and cheese ...roll them up in some crescent dough and tada, thursday is now... a ham & cheese crescent roll-up wonder pillsbury crescents, let the making begin.

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this morning on "today's home," the highs and lows of home building. figuring out what kind of floors or countertops to go with can be overwhelming so we brought in the experts. jonathan and drew scott are the host of "property brothers" on hdtv. >> thanks for having us. >> flooring options. everybody likes the look of hardwood, but as we know it's expensive. >> it's expensive, but it also wears really easy. scratches and dents, so everyone wants the best of all the world. >> best of the best. >> not going for a solid hardwood five to nine bucks a square foot, go with an engineered product that's 13 three and six. we go with a porcelain tile that has a wood grain glaze on it, looks the same as a hardwood but 100 times more durable. will you never have children, dogs, husbands mucking this up. >> oh, okay. >> a little more expensive than the engineered. >> you will get wear and tear. >> regular hardwood or engineered, but if you're going

to spend the money on a regular hardwood, not an engineered, go for the tile if you have a lot of wear and tear. >> five to nine bucks a square foot. >> countertop, used to be granite, marble, those were the things you wanted. what's the new hot countertop these days? >> granite and marble, have to reseal them to maintain or they will be susceptible to stains. quarts, great for busy families. don't remember to do those things. >> this is not sealed or anything. got a nice shine. >> crushed quarts with a resin. no way for anything to get in there. >> okay. >> but it's really, really expensive. tends to be more expensive than the granites and marbles so what we do if you want to do your island in a contrast with the butcher block, this you're looking at 70 bucks a square foot for the skwaurts. ranges usually 50 to 100. this is 67.60, and what i like this. >> introduce people how to get the champagne dreams on a beer budget. it looks like you're making a design choice when you are

trying to save money. people will never challenge you. >> butcher block may be for an accent area, as you said, like the area or an area that's high use. >> you do have to seal it depending on the humidity in your home, once every month or three months. >> you can sand it down easy and even if it gets a few marks on it it adds character. >> we all like the look of custom cabinets, how much are custom cabinets generally going to cost you? >> don't have $20,000, $30,000. >> you can do pre-fab cabinets for around 4,500, the raw materials you need to install or if you have a tired kitchen, white cabinet, swap out the door for a glass door and then add a punch of color inside. you can see i've painted the black there in sort of a tiffany's blue. adds a little bit of class. >> from property brothers we use 80% of prefab cabinets and we have people that write in saying it's the most beautiful custom kitchen they have seen but it's

not custom. >> do you have to do it to get it in there just right? >> you have to be a genius. >> i make him do all the work. >> customizing, putting crown, a light rail, something to customize the box cabinet. >> you don't want it to look like it came from ikea. >> lighting. >> take two things that look identical and one is more appealing. >> let's talk about the lamps. >> yeah. >> which do you think is more expensive of these two lamps? >> i'm going with this one. >> good pick. however, they are very, very similar. had to think about it for a second. hi to look at it. >> this is an ikea lamp, a lamp that looks really trendy and modern, 30 to 80 bucks somewhere whereas here a designer lamp you're going for over 300. just goes to show when you're staging your home, doing something, think about where you're spending the money, you can save a ton. >> new show buying and selling, about staging a home to sell not spending money. that's why i love this. shows you they are pretty well identical.

can you get that designer feel for in the a lot of money. >> you guys do a great job. jonathan and drew scott, and conn gratz on the new show already airing on hgtv. >> wednesday nights. >> there you go. coming up, some down home southern sweets from a down home southern girl. country music star kimberly schlapman but first these messages. two years ago, the people of bp made a commitment to the gulf. and every day since, we've worked hard to keep it. bp has paid over twenty-three billion dollars to help people and businesses who were affected, and to cover cleanup costs. today, the beaches and gulf are open for everyone to enjoy -- and many areas are reporting their best tourism seasons in years. we've shared what we've learned with governments and across the industry so we can all produce energy more safely. i want you to know, there's another commitment bp takes just as seriously: our commitment to america. bp supports nearly two-hundred-fifty thousand jobs in communities across the country. we hired three thousand people just last year.

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to find a participating walmart near you. this morning in "today's kitchen" we're cooking with hot chef and country vocalist kimberly schlapman. for 14 years she performed around the world with the country foursome little big town and now she's stepping into the stage to host her own cooking show, "kimberly southern." >> up in maine i was taught to eat a lobster maine style, what they call in the rough, where you tackle the whole thing. >> all right. and she joins us now. kimberly, good morning.

>> good morning. >> do i have the storiy right, that as a little girl you used to sit and pretend you were hosting a cooking show? >> i did. i did, and i'm not sure what inspired it, but i would get on the counter, and i this voice that i would use, stir and stir and add these ingredients and i had this crazy weird voice but, yeah, it was a dream since i was a kid. never dreamed it would be reality. >> here it is, reality. >> going to put you to the test. we'll start down here. these are the apple crisp mini pies, is that right? >> they are good. >> is this a family recipe? >> this is my momma's recipe. i grew up in apple country in north georgia, where apples are abundant, especially this time of year so she would make this as a kid, a big old pot of it so i make a little smaller version. >> you have a little girl who likes to cook with you now, 5-year-old. >> little daisy. quite the cook. makes up recipes. they are not always edible, but we still try. >> let's start off here. what do you want me to do in. >> five grabby smith apples. throw them in this butter.

>> granny smith, your favorite. >> my favorite. >> the way to go. >> because they are tart. going to put a little water in here to get the juices going. they are tart, firm, and they are going to go great with our little sweetness, a little tart and little sweet. perfect marriage. >> how long do we do this? >> a few minutes as they will tender up and i'll make the filling that goes in there. sugar, white sugar, brown sugar, tapioca pearls and self-rising flour. >> i bet the tapioca is a good idea. what's the benefit of that? >> thickens it up, thickens up the sauce a little bit which will go great with the soft yummy apples. >> you spent a lot of time on the road. >> oh, yeah. >> how do you balance the cooking with your career? >> i'm figuring that out. i love, love, love to cook, and i even try to cook on the roads. we have a little electric skillet. that's all we have, but we do the best we can. >> i don't think that's going to work. >> we're dumping this in. will you give this a stir and mix that up. >> absolutely i will, and i'll

move on to the topping which is a crunchy crumbly topping. self-rising flour, sugar, cinnamon, net muutmeg and allsp and here's a trick, butter. cold butter. i'll use my fingers. >> cubes. >> cubes. >> what's the advantage of cold? >> because it's crumbley. it will stick together. >> i did perfect. >> that's wonderful. >> for me that's pretty good. yeah, that sugar just has to melt over the apples and sweeten emup a little bit. it's perfect. >> tell me about the little mason jars you have here. i love that touch. >> this is portion control. my mom made the big old pie. >> i was going to say southern cooking and portion control. those two don't go together. >> today we're doing it in these

cute little jars. >> i lived in the south and didn't know about portion control. >> this is the topping all done. so if you want to fill that with some apples, i'll do one and you do one. >> all right. >> and in the south, you know, we just take care of each other through food. >> sure. >> if you're celebrating, if you're grieving, if you got a new job or lost your job, my mom will be at your door with a pie, you know, just take care of you. and then we take the little crumbles on top, it's awesome. >> going to be crumble and get really beautiful golden brown. >> already pretty beautiful. >> what's the next move. >> put it in a little water bath, because in the water bath, it will help the heat just be even and cook all around and at the same temperature and throw them in the oven. 350 degrees for 25 minutes, voila. >> that is beautiful. even i can do that. >> can we get the mason jars anywhere? >> can you pick them up at the grocery star, yeah. >> so you want to try, you want to taste? >> of course. that's why i'm here, kimberly. to try. >> you have to have a spoon.

let's dig in. >> this is so good. >> this is momma's -- that's mom momma's apple crisp. >> your momma taught you well. this is very good. kimberly schlapman, the recipe on the website at today.com, and i'm talking with my mouth full. thank you very much. >> the show airs on great american country saturday at 1:00 eastern time. >> saturdays 1:00 eastern time. >> thanks. coming up next, a 26-year-old on a mission to create a million jobs. but first, this is "today" on nbc.

. with record high unemployment rates and soaring student loan debt, times are tough for college grads, but one organization is trying to change that with the help of some familiar faces. >> when i was growing up, i always thought that i would go to college and then i would get some job that i hated.

at least it would be a job. albeit one that i hated, but now i suppose when -- when kids are in college and growing up, they feel like they won't even be able to get a job so that's kind of tragic. >> larry david, 26-year-old matthew segal is the founder and president of our time and organization, an organization that hopes to create 1 million new service jobs for americans. good morning. >> good to be here. >> let's start with the numbers because they are pretty staggering. 1 in 6 people unemployed and 1 in 3 lack insurance and many of them saddled with student loan debt. how bad is this? >> i fear we're going to lose the productivity of an entire generation, and when you and i invest in a company in the private sector, we expect a return on investment because we think that we're going to get money coming back, yet we've not invested in the human capital of young people, and by expanding these americorps programs and by expanding nationaler is vicious not only are you giving young

people the critical skills training they need, but you're taking on community problems like our grandparents who need nursing, like classrooms that are overcrowded that need teachers, like disaster relief areas that need cleaning up, and our idealism can match with those problems to fill the void, thereby creating opportunity and get a generation back to work. >> so you started our times, an organization as a way to stand up for young americans, and your goal is to create 1 million jobs. how are you going about doing this? >> this is a voter and economic organization. we're aggregating our generation to stand up for our rights and opportunities as we age and strive for financial dependence, much akin to how aarp has done that for seniors, and in terms of job opportunities, that's first and foremost. the other thing we're doing is registering voters because the founding premise of our organization is that you only have power if you vote, and in that regard we realize that money is appropriated on the

basis of groups who turn out, and we need to show up at the polls and we've been registering people. >> 50,000 people yesterday, voter registration. >> matthew, thanks so much and good luck to you. >> my pleasure. >> coming up hoda and kathie lee with five steps on how to be famous, but first your local news and weather.

it is 9:56. good morning. i'm marla tellez. the teen driver accused of killing a father and daughter in concord is expected in court today. he could change his plea to guilty. 17-year-old david rosen pleaded

not guilty in august. police say he was speeding through concord in april when he swerved hitting the man and his daughters. he and his one daughter died. is 12-year-old hannah survived. the family plans to work with sacramento lawmakers to pass stricter laws for people involved in deadly car crashes. let's turn things over to christina loren. she has a look at the forecast. a nice day on tap for us. >> it will be nice for us, marla. temperatures are crisp out there for now. look at san jose. holding on to the 50s because of the fog that settled in. it is taking a while for the sun to break through the clouds. we are clear in concord and livermore. temperatures will be warm by noon to 65 degrees in antioch. we'll round out the day at 76 degrees. 67 in san francisco. 75 in oakland. hot in the east bay. 88 for east livermore. let's check the drive with mike.

things are moving at 880 through fremont. let's look at the conditions. the incline is still slow. we have movement at the toll plaza. that is better news. 880 is better than the prior hours. 880 south is slow out of fremont. clearing to mission. a two-car accident over on the shoulder causing distraction and late slowing for 237 off 880. let's look further south with slowing on montague expressway. it is at the surface street level. marla. for the latest updates, you can search for us on facebook. we will see you in a half hour.

welcome, everybody, to winesdaywednesday, september 26th. so glad you're here with us today. >> we are all decked out. >> because we are going to rocky top tennessee. >> yeah. we are going the university on monday. >> i love this song. ♪ good old rocky top ♪ rocky top tennessee >> next monday we will broadcast from the campus to show the school spirit. the university of tennessee in knoxville. >> here is the deal. love you guy, if you are guys are in town at the university to come and see us. just head over to the

university, first come, first serve, the party starts at 8 a.m., nashville time. >> i think that's -- >> 8 a.m. east coast time, right? and -- >> so, it is going to be fun. we hope to see you out at the campus. >> they are fired up. >> are they? >> the kids from ut. >> i feel bad for all the other campuses, doesn't mean they are not great schools. >> no they were terrific schools. >> now, lady gaga, she is always getting everybody's attention. she has opened up about having a history of bulimia and anorexia, 26 years old and now she revealed she battles with those two diseases since he was 15 years old. launched a new section on her website called body revolution. she wants to inspire bravery in young people and revolution, too, posted two pictures of herself in lan sher. the caption read, bulimia and anorexia since 15. again, everyone who is in the spotlight gets criticize.

she announced she gained 25 pounds. we showed pictures. in the video, she was so waif-thin. >> the danger going -- >> swinging. >> swinging so -- your swathe so low and you gain so much so quickly but she think also we need to have much more compassion not only for each other because, let's face it life is not a stagnant thing. you change. >> yeah. >> and much more compassion for yourself when you gain a few pounds and don't beat up on yourself, 'cause god knows the world gonna do that for you. you don't need any help. >> a lot of people suffering with that, they look in the mirror and no matter how thin they are, they are not thin enough. >> right. >> that's got to be one of the most debilitating. >> we have lost some beautiful, beautiful human beings. karen carpenter had the most gorgeous voice ever. ever, right? and gone. just horrible disease. so any way, good for lady gaga. with he don't often say that but good for gaga. >> talk about "the voice"? i want to hear what you think? by the way "the voice" is

killing it, winning across the board it is such a great show, so much fun to watch. there was a girl named cassidy pope who everybody fell crazy in love with owl four judges hit their bunts, said she was going to be a star, who are you gonna choose? she chose team blake. >> i'm gonna close my eyes. >> yeah, that's good. ♪ that's what's going on ♪ and nothing's right ♪ i'm all out of faith this is how i feel ♪ ♪ i'm alone and i am shaken, lying naked on the floor ♪ ♪ and losing never changed into something real ♪ >> okay what do you -- >> you know what, she is like a variation of dolly parton's voice. >> look at her. >> oh. >> pretty girl. >> no. she has got a lot of talent. >> now, they called her -- >> very crystal-clear voice. >> everyone liked her. loved her. i liked her. i was so surprised. the chairs. >> very reminiscent of when

dolly started singing? >> really? >> yes. >> there is a woman, 55 years old -- >> don't tell me. >> no it's important. >> she is young. >> yolanda barber, she sang her whole life and then she got laid off from one of the singing gigged, sang on a cruise ship and now she drives a school bus. the city -- a school bus. anyway she got up there to sing and none of the judges turned. listen. listen. >> let me close my eyes. ♪ you can reach me by kara van ♪ across the desert like an airman ♪ >> come on. >> somebody turn around! ♪ i don't care how you get here just get here if you can ♪ ♪ i don't care how you get here, just get here if you can ♪ >> i mean, why didn't they pick her? >> she has a little bit of -- >> and what adam --

>> gladys knight to her. >> yeah. adam when he turned around said, oh, god, how stupid are we going to say for not picking her? they are rounding out their teams. looking for specific voices. >> i remember when we played "the voice," you don't want to go with the first person. >> that's what i did. i didn't -- ♪ there's a -- >> boom. boom. as a result, i almost didn't have anybody on my team, i kept waiting to be wowed by somebody. >> i think that's what's happening here at the end. they are wondering who is left and they each have a couple of space left to go but i thought she was great i like she recommend. it is nice to see, mid-50s. she is out there, shaking it. >> good for her. not the end of the road for her. not the end of the road for simon cowell, doing all right. >> apparently. >> he had somebody come in and heal his house and then started dating carmen electra. not sure what happened first. we all know carmen.

>> here is the photo. if you look closely at the photo, it looks like he's into her. she may or may not be into him. hard to tell from that picture. apparently an onlooker at one of the restaurants were they were saw them making out. >> canoodling is a nicer way to say it, hoda. >> that's what they said. that would be an unusual couple, you think? >> i thought he was engaged. when did i miss that that he broke up with his fiance? the more interesting thing to me, he came and had this woman come to his home and heal his house. is >> what is that? >> sounds like an exorcism, i suppose, without the spirituality you i don't know how it works, says because he is on remotes all the time and blackberry and iphone and e-mails and all of that, there was too much electric stuff in the air. >> i think all the stuff about healing and energy, i mean, look, when i walk up to someone, i meanly know if they have a good vibe or a bad vibe right away, but there's a lot of talk about the energy and the space and all that kind of crystaly

stuff which i don't really get into. >> not into the aura and the ohm and all? >> not into that stuff. here is something, if you travel a lot and don't want to hear the sound of crying babies or children around you, there is an airline called air asia that is blocking off a section of seats for people without kids. >> yeah. quiet zone. >> they are not more expensive seat he is. >> it is for the long haul airbuses trip, too, southeastern asia. they will reserve the first seven economy class rose exclusively for guests age 12 and above. >> there is apparently some kind of a bulkhead thing in between and the rest of the seats. >> it is discrimination of a sort. i know a lot of 8-year-old kids i would fly around the world with, so well behaved. a couple of 13 and 14-year-olds i wouldn't have lunch w. >> yeah. yeah. yeah. >> also, you can't -- remember when there was no-smoking zones and smoking? if you were the last -- if you were in the nonsmoking section, you smelled all the smoke.

there was nothing to keep it. >> kids are going to be screaming no matter where they are. >> called life, we have to get over it. we have to share this planet, one and all with each other. >> what is that? >> the answer to your dreams, hoda, for winesday wednesday. >> a zipper on the back. >> you want to unzip it. >> uh-huh. >> and then you unwrap it. >> wrap it. >> and you get four glasses. >> oh. oh. they are miniindividual -- i'm afraid to -- how do you snap them off? >> i don't know. i think this is getting a little out of control. >> these are four separate glasses of wine. how do you get them off? i'm afraid it's going to blow. >> oh. we are taking up valuable time on nbc news so that we can do this. learn. >> all righty. >> this is great. >> 14.99 on -- >> we have to -- careful. >> taste it. >> i got to do it this way. >> you know what, that's --

>> not bad! we are not one of the most influential women in tv, neither one of us. >> according to zimbio.com? >> and who's heard of that? >> nobody i know. >> actress melissa mccarthy, "mike & molly," "bridesmaids" unld 3er 0. honey boo boo >> you know what her real name is? alanna thompson. >> congratulations here. let's just look for a minute. >> beauty queen. >> [ inaudible ] boo-boo child. >> a little therapy on that child. or there's a trip in front of judge judy. >> judge judy. yeah. >> her personalities. i love judge judy. >> she is one of the people who has maintained -- >> you know why? >> what? >> a lesson for everybody, to be in television, be yourself. >> yes. >> be original, be unique. she is a one-of-a-kind. she doesn't fake it.

if you go to lunch with judge judy, exactly the same way. a lot of people try to imitate her and you can tell. >> no. no. no. >> you can tell. >> behind the scenes, shawnda raines, "grey's anatomy" and "private practice." >> and ellen degeneres is top drawer, 13 million twitter followers, 3.5 million facebook fans. i have four. four total. >> you have heard of the wonderful, wonderful hospital down in memphis, tennessee. >> yeah. >> st. jude's, that takes care of so many sick children if they can pay or not. it's an amazing organization. this is a viral video that made both of us cry today. so, september is national childed cancer awareness month. let's just play a little bit of it, okay, guys? ♪ nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah, hey jude ♪

♪ nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah ♪ ♪ nah nah nah nah hey jude ♪ nah nah nah nah >> very sweet. say that. a part of that. there ae's marlo. >> a friend of mine, accident realize he pass aid watch sad news for so many people. he had perhaps the most beautiful male voice ever and that perfect pitch. andy williams died after a year-long -- now i'm gonna lose t ♪ wider than a mile >> 84 years old. >> suffered with quite a few cancers over the years and things but a sweeter man would you never have met, just a total pro. died down in branson, missouri, yes has lived for -- the moon river theater down there. >> this song touches so many generations. he recorded 18 gold and three

platinum-certified albums. incredible. >> such a talented person. >> yeah e. >> and we send our love to debbie and his three children. >> all right. >> okay. >> one of the guys who has come out of the weeds to unleash his animal ambition -- >> actor justin kirk, right after this. [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso.

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in the new nbc comedy "animal practice" just reason kirk plays a world-renowned veterinarian, dr. coleman, whose methods aren't exactly scientific. take a look. >> now pull out that funny bone without buzzing and i will know you're okay. >> ridiculous this game is for 33-year-olds. >> wrong t is fun for all ages. now, operate. >> peeps of cake. [ buzzing ] >> and you just killed your dog. >> dammit, i got this [ buzzer ] >> killed your dog. killed your dog. killed your dog. >> happens when you work with a place full of animals. like here. justin kirk stopped by to say hey. >> hey. >> justin, you are madly promoted, the premiere is tonight.

>> it is tonight. the day we have all been waiting for. >> now, are you -- do you enjoy animals, by the way? >> you better? >> yeah. yeah. i really do. i had no idea. i mean, i had dogs growing up and stuff, but it's been the sort of secret gift of this job, always crazy animals around here. >> just walking through the waiting room where you work is, any kind of an animal is going to show up. >> you know is just a show. i don't really work there. >> i know that i know that might step in a little do do. have animals here all the time. >> we step in it. >> don't particularly obey the rules. >> our monkey has a diaper. >> but i'm talking -- >> there are others, you are right. there was a large snake that took a big something one day and it looked like an omelette fell on the floor. >> you keep that in the show and -- >> i don't think so we are on wednesdays at 8:00. the kids. the kids. >> kids love potty humor. >> that's true r. >> because the animals are going too do their own thing, do you

guys go with it and ad lib with it when things happen? >> luckily it is not a play, so we can do another take. look, there's the turtles. >> but, yeah, thins is the cardinal showbiz rule, never work with kids and animals and here you are -- not too many kids. >> no. that's the show following with ? >> i have two kids, i agree with you. >> animals. >> i have three. >> bring them on the show. we will make theme star. >> you haven't seen our show, have you? >> bring them on our show. >> for those people animal lovers, just reason, should they be at all concerned about the animals being treated well and safety of the animals? >> god no our animal people, first of all, most of our dogs and cats are rescues and all the animal folks that work on the show have devoted their lives to

these animals and then put them 24/7. crystal, the monkey. >> very famous. >> her handler, tom, it is one of the most unique, intimate, special relationships of any two creatures i have ever seen. >> these animals have their own union. things are good. >> in addition this off couple of films coming out? >> oh, good. >> tell us. >> oh i wasn't ready for this we will see, a movie called "nobody walks" with lena dunham and an amy herck ling movie called "vamps," which is "clueless" with vampires. i play a sex addict ukrainian vampire with eyeliner and good clothes. >> not a stretch? >> just like friday at my house. >> wish he good luck. get "animal practice" tonight at 8:00/7 central. >> thank you, guys. thanks for having me. >> sara has all the photos that made you say "what the what?"

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time now to take a look at all the photos that made you stop and say "what the what"? sara, who is this week's top pick? >> i like how short what you have to say. our first photo comes from diane davis from south carolina. this is not burger king. you don't get it your way, you take it my way or you don't get the damn thing. >> wow. what was it? >> and prices subject to change according to customers a attitude. yes, in a little country store in north carolina. i think like, if you are going to come in here, you play it my way. >> i like that. >> good sense of humor. crystal christian from helena, montana -- is it helena? >> tinies gym, 24-hour fitness, chubby free food. >> where's chubby? >> down in the gym, they are in the same -- >> next door? >> yeah. we all know that some days, off

chubby day and some days you have a tiny's day. >> monday, a big old blimp day. >> next up, we have a photo from andrea foot. okay. so, look at this. petite diced tomatoes. >> oh, my gosh. >> mama's making spaghetti tonight. could you imagine if you got home and opened that can? >> hysterical. that is exact -- it's peaches. you're seeing that correctly. that is -- those are peaches. so -- >> wow. >> back to the store for this one. >> you know what, we couldn't have gone on a streak forever, but dana from hannibal, missouri, sends us a photo. >> hot tasty butts. >> every time she is on her way to st. louis. >> that's cute. >> piggy's barbecue. >> a little bun. >> pork butt. >> and atlanta, georgia, sent this gem. look at this a set of creepy musical noms, $6.

we are not even going to pretend those are normal. >> there is something about homes in. >> creepy and playing musical instruments, the one standing in the garden was weird enough. >> okay. >> finally jessica wright from rochester new york submitted this feet toe. >> one way. >> huh? >> if these not confusing, i don't know what is, that is an actual road sign. >> maybe like a y in the road. >> main heaven. >> no, there's a y. and they are both one way? >> don't forget to send us your photos exklgandhoda.com. my favorite segment, really. we are gonna play "who knew." >> find out who is top dog. >> and five steps to becoming rich and famous. >> plus amazing drives destinations check out all the fall joel yang. >> wouldn't be wednesday without wine. she said fall favorites, we have got them with us. you know who we mean. >> who? >> after your local news and

weather. ally bank. why they're always there to talk. i love you, james. don't you love me? i'm a robot. i know. i know you're a robot! but there's more in you than just circuits and wires! uhhh. (cries) a machine can't give you what a person can. that's why ally has knowledgeable people there for you, night and day. ally bank. your money needs an ally. just begin with america's favorite soups. bring out chicken broccoli alfredo. or best-ever meatloaf. go to campbellskitchen.com for recipes, plus a valuable coupon.

campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do. now all general mills big g kid cereals have more whole grain than any other ingredient in cereals like lucky charms and cinnamon toast crunch, the delicious way to help them grow up strong. it is 10:26. good morning. i'm marla tellez. earthquake playoff tickets are now on sale. you better act fast. 2,500 are available. season ticket holders have snatched up the rest.

the earthquakes have the best record in major league soccer. playoffs begin in november. coming up after the break, we will look at the forecast and the roads. [ taste buds ] donuts, donuts, donuts!

who are these guys? oh, that's just my buds. bacon, donuts. -my taste buds. -[ taste buds ] waffles. how about we try this new kind of fiber one cereal? you think you're going to slip some fiber by us? rookie. okay. ♪ nutty clusters and almonds, ♪ ♪ almonds. ♪ fiber one is gonna make you smile. ♪ [ male announcer ] introducing new fiber one nutty clusters and almonds. with 43% daily value of fiber for you. crunchy nutty clusters and real almond slices for your taste buds. welcome back. 10:28. getting a little bit of clearing over the bay bridge. we have a mariner out there enjoying glassy conditions on the water. you can actually see the top tower of the bay bridge. a sign of significant improvement when it comes to the coastal fog. we will have comfortable

sunshine for the afternoon. we heat up tomorrow and more on friday and into the upcoming weekend. 84 in santa teresa. we will detail the heat wave and talk about the potential for showers next week today at 11:00. good morning, mike. the bay bridge toll plaza is clear and the metering lights are off. no major clouds here. no slowing on the southbound side. northbound will be slowing coming up to san pedro. we have an accident at central just cleared from the lanes. here is the peninsula through palo alto. not a problem for drivers. marla, back to you. thank you, mike. we will have more of the top stories coming up in 30 minutes at 11:00. including a closed-door meeting after a girl is abducted from a campus bathroom. the new security measures discussed in a live report at

11:00. jon kelley and i will see you then. we are back now with more winesday wednesday, time to play the weekly trivia question, "who knew"? today, hornet dogs in honor of national dog week. kathie lee is across the street at the nbc experience store. handing out $100 to those that get the questions right. to those that don't, get kathie lee's wonderful cd. with me in the studio is eleash shah coral, e news correspondent and her dog friend. what is your dog's name? >> cody. >> how cute. >> this is a cutie. >> i don't know if he is going to be calm. might have to ask the -- >> go to auntie. >> all right. we are ready, kath. >> a lovely teacher from tennessee, a punch of tennessee folks. what is the dog's name associated with this theme

music? ♪ who let the dogs out >> not that is it spike, snoopy, woodstock or linus? >> snoopy. >> yez! >> yes, indeed! >> iconic, right? called "linus and lucy" released in 1964 first on "a charlie brown christmas" but the met life commercial, been on the weather channel, on the "endeavour." everywhere. >> all right. great. go back across. >> from newark, delaware this actor played the owner of the lovable dog marley in the movie "marley & me" is it vince vaughn, tom hanks, ben stiller or own wilson? >> own wilson. >> i'm having a very sad day. >> yes, you are, not for long. owen wilson so great in this movie, sad. >> the movie was leased in 2008 based off of the famous book and 22 different dogs played it naughty dog, marley. takes a lot of dogs to get that one right. so, fantastic movie.

>> what i want to rent. >> from lynn wood, new jersey, finish the lyrics to this elvis song. ♪ you ain't nothing but a hound dog crying all the time ♪ ♪ you ain't nothing but a hound doug cryi dog crying all the time ♪ ♪ you ain't never caught a rabbit and you ain't no friend of mine ♪ >> good girl! [ applause ] >> wow. >> so, when this was performed on "the milton beryl show" in 1956, he will viv the elvis the pelvis, thrusting it a bi it cause and outrage. one of rolling stone's best stocks of all time. >> great. back to you. >> from market new jersey, what villain caps a litter of puppies in "101 dalmatians"? >> cruella daville. >> wow this is not a good day for -- >> not a good day. so cruella wants the puppies

because she loves the softness of her fur, her name is a play on the words cruel and devil. put them together, cruella daville. >> what breed of dog is scooby door a beagle, a great dog, a great dane or a german shepherd? >> great dane. >> okay. you are not giving any of those cds away. >> 100%. the great dane was based on one of the creator's friends, need great dane and the creator was able to analyze it and look at this and the show was going to be called "mysterious 5" originally. >> it was? >> didn'tnk they got it right. >> what disguise does the grinch give his dock dog max on christmas eve? is it is an ta clause, a reindeer, an elf or a chimney sweep? >> a reindeer. >> wow! >> oh, my gosh. not one cd. not a single one. >> kathie looks a little

worried. max is supposedly a beagle, we don't know. he is all the good things the grafrnl is not, dogs are s arsa good halloween costume. >> so this is our last one. >> also from new jersey, what was the name of the first film lassie starred in? lassie's great adventure, lassie come home, courage of lass soirt imagi -- lassie or the magic of lassie? >> been a sweep. may be the first time. >> i'm gonna say it. total sweep. >> the movie was released in 1943. pal is the original lassie. went on to star in six more lassie movies. hoda, known as one of the greatest animal actors of our time. really serious. his descendents went on to play in the lassie movies as well. you go pal. >> great seeing you. good job at the emmys. >> thank you. thank you. >> do you have champagne wishes and caviar dreams? how to be rich and famous you right after this. we use this board to compare car insurance rates

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the next generation and then countless more. how do you kill them? frontline plus. it uses two ingredients. one to kill adult fleas and ticks. plus another to eliminate flea eggs and larvae, annihilating the next generation of fleas. and, frontline plus works non-stop for thirty days. no wonder it's the number one choice of vets for their pets and yours. ask your vet about frontline plus. accept nothing less. have you ever looked the rate stars like kim kardashian and bethny frankel and say how did they get so rich and famous? >> they built an image and a brand, and you can too says the executive editor of "cosmopolitan" magazine. a five-part plan to help you start raking in the cash. >> supposed to find the thing first of all you are passionate b. >> you probably already have a thing you love doing, neighbor is shopping for shoes, but start thinking like a brand. you want to get really specific.

don't want to be one of a million shoe bloggers out there, get specific, neighbor is finding sexy size 9 shoes, sexy, that specific is and make sure you're solving a problem. are there other people thought who are going to want the same thing because then they will naturally -- >> how would you knee at first though? >> something you care about and you want to -- >> you can find it. >> there will be other people. >> you say be the master of your domain. >> uh-huh. you need a place to send everyone, a website, right? and really easy to do. first, you need a name. all the good names are already tablen a good formula is use your name plus your passion so maybe hoda's sexy size 9 shoes. >> 9 1/2. >> 9 1/2. i actually guessed 9 1/2. and then you want a fun tag line that tags person eigh s persona, big sexy. >> nothing says sexy like that. sexy boat he s.

>> this is important. make sure you use the same keywords in your website over and over again, the more often you have sexy size 9 shoes, the higher you will come up in a google search. >> what is the three-part formula? >> using social media, now you have your home base, pretty easy to set up, now you need to drive people to it, what social media is about, you need to use it strategically, facebook is like a personal, intimate environment, you want to have conversations with your fans, ask their opinions but twitter is just about spreading great information, you want to send videos, pictures, links to interesting articles and it will have your name on it, bring people back to your site. >> sometimes people feel like those things are pushy, like is there a way that you can send something out that you intrigue people and they kind of lean in and they go to -- >> it's got to be good. don't send boring tweets. don't -- it has to be related to what you're doing -- >> cut through all the noise out there. >> people need to want it. but if you're solving a problem for them and really speaking to a need, they are going to want to get those tweets. >> when you say rich and famous, how rich can you get on being a blogger? >> so let's sway the shoe

example, you start to build a following. people start coming to your site who also have big feet and want to wear sexy shoes. you get a sponsorship, maybe somebody like 9 west or cole haan who has that size and has sexy shoes who want to sponsor you, that's where the money starts coming in. >> okay. okay. >> ex-actually. >> the final step is -- >> something brand marketers call piggybacking, use people already well known for doing something like what you want to do you use their fame to raise your profile. comment on their blog or website and include the link on your website when you comment and people will go there and like your perspective and what you say will then check you out. you want to retweet their tweets so people associate you with their name and then you also want to invite better known bloggers to do a guest blog on your site, which people are often happy to do because they're flattered. >> i know it's not just me. must be one more person out there who just thinks people blog today and don't live. is anybody living a life or are they just blogging about other peoples' life? >> if you spend all your time

shopping for shoes that is a true, real organic blog. >> i see what you say. you know what my concern is, just because so much more comfortable with machinery that we won't know how to talk to a human being the next time you are with one. >> i think you can marry the two experiences for sure. the best blogs are human beings who are out doing things. >> yeah, not just sitting in the house. >> there you go nikki. >> thank you, darling. we are cruising along america's most scenic roadways, going to check out the best fall foliage right after this. when they came up with this product, they were thinking about my family.

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time now for today's travel and take you on a trip to some of the country's most glorious colorful highways and mountain roads. >> yellow, amber and red hues, fall foliage is at its peak and fodor's executive director is here with the best destinations this time of year. noofrnlts i to see you. >> fun time in the northeast, isn't it?

>> beautiful. >> doesn't peak here in our tristate area, must be talking new hampshire, vermont, new england? >> yes, definitely starting to happen in vermont, continue through until mid-october, not later, seen things happening a bit later this season than years past. >> because of the weather in the spring and summer? >> exactly. this summer, seeing it happen later. >> what is the best time to head to vermont, wanted to go to that wonderful spot? >> had the green mountain by way, recommend going now, but go well into october and see fabulous fall colors, lots of maples up there as well, all the classic red, rolling hills, farmland and you can also go to ben & jerry's ice cream. >> exactly. >> move to coopers a town, new york. >> cooperstown, new york, great destination if you're into beer and baseball what is more american than that in the baseball hall of fame, state fair and there's also the brewery which is the only -- brewery in the united states. a beautiful setting as well. you can taste your beer and see all the leaves turning there as well. >> really great. why don't we go to the blue

ridge mountains in asheville, north carolina. >> that is a beautiful spot. >> i love it there it's gloriously beautiful. >> gloriously beautiful indeed and one of the destinations you get to see all the color spectrum in fall. every possible color imaginable two big high lights, the blue ridge parkway, which is one of america's favorite drives, you can bike that or drive it get off and go hike and climbing you and biltmore estate you the largest private residence in the united states, built for george vanderbilt, has an amazing art collection and formal garden. >> look at that. that shot is gorgeous. >> gorgeous. >> colorado. >> oh, come on. >> just hearing the word. >> oh. rocky mountain high. >> indeed. lots of yellows. >> tell us about that area. >> the grand mesa national forest was a big pick for us. you can go up a chair lift there and see all the foal foliage all below you. it is a wonderful experience. >> wow. >> the area full of great lakes as well and lots of wildlife, where you really start to see moose and elk.

great destinations for hiking, go camping as well t . it is terrific. >> south dakota. >> you get to see mount rushmore in the fall, framed with the yellow leaves and school is back in session. you can take the kids with you and go on a prairie safari there country bear usa and go and drive and see the animals. >> not just round rushmore but crazy horse is unbelievable. thrilling to go to crazy horse. >> one more snot oregon? >> the columbia river gorge is spectacular, great romantic destination, first scenic highway built there, too. >> i have heard of that. >> wow. >> oh, my god. >> yeah. a bit lower than the grand canyon, imagine driving on bluffs almost the height of the grand canyon, look down, see the river below you, and veer off the darling road, the fruit

loop. >> the fruit loop? >> the fruit loop. >> great to see you, too. >> makes you want to get gone. >> sure does. all righty, which wines will we fall more? the wine battle begins. first this is today on innocence.

we are back on this winesday wednesday. what else would we be talking about besides our beverage of choice here? we are talking about wine. >> wine! >> founder of thirsty girl and the editor of food and wine magazine are back for another edition of he said/she said, facial off to see who has the better fall wine pick. >> round two. >> how will it be broken down? >> very simply, i'm united states, she is foreign countries. >> all these wines around between $10 and $20, all great

values, kick off with the category of the kids are back in school. yay! so this is prosecco from italy. great deal around $13 a bottle, $14, light, fruity, fresh for brunch. >> but this wonderful sparkling wine, california sparkling wine, more like champagne, really elegant, delicious. $20 a bottle. >> i'm going with europe. >> europe. [ applause ] >> not going to come back here. also for fall, got fall harvest foods, hearty. butternut squash soup. >> that looks good. >> we wanted to have a chardonnay tasteoff, we realize that whoever brings chardonnay wins. >> wins. >> we brought two chardonnays. >> so good. >> isn't that delicious? >> the soup. >> so i'm taking you down to europe here, a little bit south america here, international. so this is from argentina, the

at la more. >> i love jay lore, lohr. [ overlapping speakers ] >> next, tailgating, fall, parking lot, you have got wines that have to be portable, have to be easy to work with. >> right. >> and so, first, well -- >> basically going to go for the screw cap versus the pouch. >> we go wines. >> i want you to say [ inaudible ] screwed. you know that. so screw cap is fantastic. this is from south africa. crips, like, fruity. >> actually don't usually like shennen blank. >> this is from the cliff

family, famous cliff bars, incredibly environmentally friendly you great cabernet, $17, equivalent two bottles of wine. >> going with that, too. >> what is the score? >> 2-1. >> i'm going to win this one. >> we are going to wrap up with a zinfandel, i call it black leather, a little wild august little crazy. >> rub your breasts when you say that. is that necessary? >> you know. this is from a winery in southernitily. delicious red berry, $20, great with red meat. >> zinfandel, zin your face. lovely, spicy, fun, crisp, you know, full of fruit. >> europe. >> europe? >> this one. >> they are all good.

>> tied. >> tied. >> good job. look what the winner gets. >> split them among yourselves. >> that is a very expensive present. >> coming up tomorrow, actress rosie perez and ambush makeover. >> breaking your bad beauty habits, hoda, and webcast t have an awesome, awesome wine days wednesday. tomorrow is thirsty thursday. [ female announcer ] this is the story of sam,

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